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This visit was a bit of a side quest, since I can't really say for certain my parents spent any time at this destination. Earlier this week, my studio assistant & I went on a little excursion to Pindangan Ruins. This is somewhere I'd always seen nearby in my Google Maps, but kept forgetting about it. My studio assistant & I recently went to a pasalubong (souvenir) shop at the San Fernando town plaza that gives out free travel guide booklets. I was reminded again of this destination when I was reading through this helpful travel guide! According to La Union Tayo!, Pindangan was the original name of the City of San Fernando. Pindangan is derived from the Ilokano word pindang, a method of sun-drying & salt preserving meat, referring to San Fernando as a destination heavy in this type of delicacy. Due to its close proximity to the sea, the original church was at constant risk of attacks from foreign invaders (ironic, since I would consider the Spanish foreign invaders themselves). Originally built by Spanish priests in 1764, the church was eventually moved to the town plaza after a couple of other previous relocations, & it is now known as the Cathedral Parish of Saint William the Hermit. However, the ruin site has a Carmelite monastery, which does have its own small church. While this visit isn't directly related to my family's history, it's still part of my study on contemporary San Fernando & integral to its timeline. Being an Ilokana in the Californian diaspora, I'm particularly interested in the parallels between Filipinos & California Natives. We share the same colonisers — both Spain & the so-called United States — & remnants of the Spanish colonial era still exist in both places. As some of you already know, I did a recent photo documentary series on the celebration of the Santo Niño in contemporary Philippines & the diaspora for my project Venerating an Icon, as part of my recent residency at the Minnesota Street Projects in San Francisco. This project is still in-progress, but I'm aiming to tie up loose ends before the end of this year! The project examined a centuries old Spanish icon that is still glorified throughout the islands & diaspora, & I was especially interested in its context within California, another former colony of Spain when it was part of what was known as New Spain. Without further adue, here are some photos from our outing to the Pindangan Ruins. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge. 
 My studio assistant getting some practice with composition. :')
My fav easter egg I got to encounter during this visit was finding the kusikus pattern on the door frame of this small chapel (I'm assuming that's what the structure was). The kusikus is very Ilokano-specific & refers to whirlwind patterns found on abel ules, or woven inabel blankets. The kusikus comes in many variations, but this is probably the most popular version of it. Woven on blankets slept with at night, the pattern is intended to confuse & scare off bad spirits. Make sure to enlarge the images to check out that kusikus doorframe! Unfortunately, that was as close as I could get, as the property was fenced off & not accessible.   Some misc bougainvillea compositions. I love the dual juxtapositions of organic & colorful with grey distressed manmade structure. I also recently found out that bougainvillea is the official provincial flower of La Union. I learnt this through the travel guide booklet I picked up at the pasalubong shop, haha.   Being that it is Semana Santa here in the Philippines, you will usually find images of Jesus & crucifixes covered in purple veils. Starting during the Passiontide, or the last two weeks of Lent, they cover Jesus to observe the last days of his life up until his resurrection on Easter, when he is then unveiled. In the Philippines, his unveiling is considered a way of celebrating his resurrection & Easter. The veil is purple to represent royalty, reminding believers that "Christ is King". Just a friendly reminder that I don't believe in any of this shit, LOL. I just find it interesting, so don't come at me!
More blog posts on the work I've been producing during my residency will be published in the coming weeks! Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my posts. All updates on my residency will be tagged under Balay da Judge.
If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.
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 Another piece where the scan does the colors no justice!
This untitled multimedia piece, consisting of goache on a digital photo print, is a collaboration between me & fellow Filipina-American artist, Vanessa Briones. Vanessa & I have been good friends & collaborators for the last 7 years, & I felt so lucky I got to spend a lot of quality time with her again during my recent residency in San Francisco. It was nice to co-work adjacent to her at my SF studio space! This idea, where I ask other artists to paint their vision in their style over my photo prints, is something I've thought of doing for years. Not only did I get to spend more than one day with Vanessa, I am honored she got to be the first to attempt this experimentation with me. The photo is of Namacpacan Church in Luna, La Union, which you can read about its lore & history in my blog post Return Call Part 3. This collaborative idea is something I hope I can develop into a series & get more artists involved in. Leave a comment or hit up my email if you're interested in attempting this with me! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my previous post, Return Call Part 1. All the positive comments were overwhelmingly sweet & encouraging. For this second installment of my Return Call blog series, I revisited one of my favorite cities in the Philippines: Baguio, located in the province of Benguet in the Cordilleras region of the north. Baguio is one of my dream cities I'd love to live in someday if I could. The art scene is booming, the city is full of life, the weather & scenery are just gorgeous. While my family is from a coastal region of the north, the mountains always resonated with me more than the ocean does, which is why I think Baguio appeals to me more than our hometown. But, also not saying I don't love La Union either. ;) Anyways, here's some places we got to visit this time around. We were there just for a day trip, but got to fit in activities I've always wanted to cross off my bucket list. These photos were taken on my Nikon ZF, exported low-res versions to my mobile phone using the Nikon SnapBridge app, then lightly edited through the Photos app on my iPhone. View this post from a computer for the full experience. Click an image below to enlarge. Feel free to leave a nice comment & share your thoughts. 🥰 W A R N I N G! Below are images of traditional artworks that portray sexual activities & body parts. Scroll cautiously if you are viewing at work or school. I am not responsible for you getting fired or kicked out of school! Baguio Cathedral of Our Lady of the AtonementNot much to say about this one, but you all know how much I love examining church architecture, art & iconography. This cathedral once acted as an evacuation center during WWII, & was one of the few buildings in the city that survived carpet bombing by the US military. Because there was a mass happening inside when we visited the church, I was unable to explore the interior. However, the crucifix outside, leading up to the steps of the church, was probably my fav feature. 
Ili Likha Artists' VillageThis is a space I just found out about recently through a friend. Created by Philippine national artist Kidlat Tahimik, Ili Likha is an art center with several sculptures and installations throughout the space, a theatre, multiple eateries & souvenir shops with plenty of handmade gifts & goodies. You can learn more about them through their Facebook or Instagram pages. Heads up for those of you who use wheelchairs or struggle with stairs — The space is situated inside of an old building with multiple floors & levels that are not handicap accessible. 😔  
 
Loved the gorgeous mosaics found throughout the building, especially along this stairwell.  Playing sungka! Or some of you may know this game as mancala.  Oh My Gulay!Oh My Gulay is a vegetarian/vegan artist cafe also created by Kidlat Tahimik & his family. Gulay is Tagalog for vegetables. 🍆 OMG has been on my bucket list for years & I'm glad I finally got to make it! This restaurant not only has installations and architecture similar to those at Ili Likha, but it also houses a small art gallery for emerging artists, as well as more art displays throughout. OMG is located on a penthouse top floor. If I remember correctly, you need to climb around 5 flights of stairs, but the view is breathtaking once you finally get to the top. Because of how old the building is, this is another location that is sadly not handicap accessible or friendly for wheelchair users. :( Even my senior mom, who is in fairly descent shape for her age, was struggling to get to the top floor. I hope someday, by some miracle, a lift is built to help bring customers to the top to enjoy the view & this gem of a dining establishment. It's unlike any other restaurant I've been to & I'd love for everyone to be able to access & enjoy it! You can learn more about Oh My Gulay & the Victor Oteyza Community Art Space (VOCAS Gallery) on their Facebook pages. Sorry to anyone who doesn't use FB — I, personally, don't use it either!
   Check out Nona Garcia's collection of hyper-realistic paintings in her solo exhibition After Artists at the VOCAS Gallery located inside Oh My Gulay. The paintings were so realistic, I thought they were photographs upon first glance, until I got closer and realised they were paintings. Definitely check them out in-person if you happen to be passing through Baguio while the exhibition is still up.
 BenCab MuseumThe BenCab Museum is also another landmark in Baguio that has been on my bucket list for years. It seemed that the coolest places to visit in Baguio were all located quite far from the city center. That being said, I couldn't visit them all, & decided to visit the BenCab Museum for this short trip. I would love to return again someday for the full experience. Unfortunately, because it was rainy that day, we couldn't check out the whole BenCab Museum campus, which also features Mr. BenCab's organic farm & garden. Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, AKA BenCab, is also another National Artist of the Philippines. The museum contains displays of his own artworks, as well as rotating exhibitions & works from his permanent collection.  
Imelda Cajipe-Endaya is a Filipina artist whose work I adore & have always wanted to see in-person. I didn't know what to expect when visiting the museum, but it was a real treat being surprised & getting to see her work in real life. (Right on the right image above) 
   
 End of the day... Back at the bus terminal.It was a long day. I do not recommend taking the bus or driving to Baguio on a weekend day. What is usually a 1.5 trip on the bus ended up taking 3 hours each way! Definitely go on a weekday, leave early, or plan to spend a night or weekend if you do go on a weekend day.
   During this trip, we also visited a weaving art shop called Narda's, but I didn't take any photos of it, haha. Next time, some more places I'd love to visit in Baguio include Tam-awan Village, Valley of Colors, Easter Weaving, Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto (if you know me, you know I LOVE The Grotto in Portland — It's one of my fav places on this planet), Baguio Night Market, Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Baguio Botanical Garden, & a couple cafes around the city.
If you fancy it, here's a Google Map I created of places I've visited in the past, during this trip, & the places I would still like to visit in Baguio. Feel free to save the map for your future reference! Feel free to leave a nice comment & share your thoughts. 🥰 It's been exactly 5 years since I've returned to the motherland. The last time I was in the Philippines was to bury my father back in 2019. I'd been wanting to return more frequently since then, but the pandemic suddenly came out of left field. Even on my way over, I can't say I was comfortable being trapped in multiple airports & planes with herds of unmasked & coughing people for what turned out to be over 24 hours of commuting. But, I knew if I didn't do this now, it may be a long time until I could return. After losing my full-time employment in early September, I answered the return call to come home once again... Here's the first installment of some pics pulled from my Nikon ZF. I no longer have a Lightroom subscription, so I imported these lower-res pics over to my mobile via the Nikon SnapBridge app & did some light edits through the photos app on my iPhone. More to come, & film photos will be available when I get back to the states, process & scan them all. Can't wait to tell you all about my new film scanner, too. Stay tuned! Enjoy! Feel free to leave a nice comment & let me know what you think. ;) View from a computer for the full experience. Click an image below to enlarge.
 Some public transportation watching in San Fernando (top right & bottom) & San Juan town proper (top left). I love the public transportation in the Philippines. There's nothing else like it! And I love all the names people give their jeepneys. This one, for example, was named Alaska Halibut. 😆 The following photos are of the church my father was baptised in, & where we also held his mass before we buried him. It turns out St. John the Baptist Church was built sometime in the late 1600s or early 1700s. It is where most of my family on my father's side were baptised, married, &/or also had their mass before burial. This church is very special to my family. 🙏🏽 Please note — I, myself, do not identify as religious. Throughout my work, I document colonial legacies specifically relating to religions & their iconography, more specifically Christianity & its lasting influences through contemporary times. It's probably one of my fav themes to explore!
   
 Not a great pic at all because of the glare, but this creepy display was motion censored & abruptly lit up when my niece & I walked close to it! Scared the shit out of us & I just wanted to share a crappy photo for you to all see what we were looking at. We weren't exactly sure who the figure inside was supposed to be, because there was no signage indicating who it was. However, we believe based on the stigmata on the feet, that maybe this is supposed to be Jesus? 🤷🏻♀️
 🌾 Rice harvest season: Life in Dangdangla, San Juan, La Union, Philippines. Dangdangla is a small barangay in the municipality of San Juan. It has a population of roughly 1000 residents. For those of you who don't know, the simplest way to translate the word barangay (ba-ran-gy) to English would be village or community? The word originated from the balangay, which was a type of boat used by the Austronesians when they sailed & settled in the Philippines. The word was originally pronounced ba-la-ngay.    
My first time to see a carabao out in the wild & close up! The carabao (kalabaw/karabaw) is a type of water buffalo & is known as the national animal of the Philippines, symbolising hard work. Carabao were often found helping with rice cultivation. 💪🏽🐂
Lastly, I ended my river excursion in Dangdangla with a rare double rainbow sighting. 🌈 To me, one rainbow is already remarkable. But to experience a double rainbow in the land my ancestors once thrived in felt like a blessing, & hopefully a good omen.
In pre-colonial Philippine culture, there is a belief that the soul is transported to the afterlife through maritime travel by a boat that flows down a river, & is then returned to nature to guide their descendants. I'd like to think maybe this was a sign from my father, saying "Welcome home, kid. I'm here if you need me." 🤲🏽 Stay tuned for digital pics from my upcoming adventures to Baguio & Cebu! 📸 |
NICA AQUINOIn this space I'll share digital previews of my film photography, updates on new artworks in progress, upcoming programs, inspiration & my other misc interests. Archives
May 2025
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