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Tomorrow, 3 May, is the last day of my Balay da Judge artist residency with the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library in San Fernando, La Union. 🥲 This will be my last update on this project for a while. I am returning to the US next week, where I will prioritise processing the 35mm film I used to create the main part of this project. The digital photos published in this blog series are meant to serve as previews of the work-in-progress, not final works, but I hope you all enjoyed what you saw. I am hoping to get all film scanned & edited before the end of this year. It will be a priority! These were a few photos I was able to create during the photo walk portion of my photo workshop, using the prompts from our photo scavenger hunt list. These were the very last photos I made with my Nikon ZF (and Pocket Dispo lens) on this trip. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge.   
 Below is an event recap photo gallery provided by the library as well.                      I am also very excited to soon share the workshop participants' photos they created during our photo walk! The submissions are rolling in & already they're all SO incredible! As an art educator, the proudest moment you can experience is seeing your students put your lessons to practice & witness them create. So please stay tuned for updates on that as well! The library & I will be collaborating to publish an online exhibition of the complete collection of photography, & hopefully a printed zine (still TBD).
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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Hey all, this is the last week of my Balay da Judge artist residency, as it ends on May 3... This will be one of my last few updates on the work-in-progress I've created for this project, so I hope you enjoy.
While this is more of another side quest & not really related to the residency project, my mom & I paid a visit to Ma-Cho Temple in San Fernando. Ma-Cho Temple is located in the barangay of Ilocanos Norte, where my mom & dad had their first house together. My mom said the temple has been there for many years & it's a place she'd always wanted to go, but never did. She said back in the day supposedly it was never open to the public. Before I leave San Fernando, I wanted to visit this place together with her since she said she'd always wanted to see what it was like. After visiting, my mom also got to show me a bit of Ilocanos Norte. 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. 
Loved that all the parked cars happened to be red.
Ma-Cho temple was built in San Fernando, La Union in 1978 by Filipino-Chinese devotees. It is the first Taoist temple in the Philippines. Sat on top of a hill & overlooking the China Sea, this temple is located within the middle of the hustle & bustle of San Fernando city life. The temple is filled with gardens, pagodas, sculptures & an interior temple with the most intricate carved ceiling art I've ever seen. While I'm not a follower myself, my interest in culture extends to religion & spirituality, & I love visiting places like these. Last autumn, I recently came back from visiting an epic Taoist temple for the sea goddess Mazu in Taiwan. Naturally, stopping by this type of location would interest me. (I'll eventually share photos from that trip, but it's not a priority at the moment.)
After spending some time at the temple, we went around Ilocanos Norte to find the first house her & my dad lived in together as a couple. 
Here, you can see the entrance to the small street leading up to my parents' old house. Since it's not an actual street, there is no street name, but it is off of Ortega Street.
We walked down the small corridor & came across someone staying near the house. The lady told my mom that the original owner (who owned the house when my mom & dad were renting from them) sold the house some time ago & the former owner's nephew is currently the caretaker for the house. My mom explained that she used to live there many years ago with my late dad. She told me she had not been back to that house since the 1970s, & that back in the day it was still dirt roads around there with not as many other houses around.
After we visited her & my dad's first house off of Ortega Street, we went to visit one more house of theirs', which is actually also located just within Tanqui, behind the church at the town plaza in San Fernando.
Located behind this house on Zamora Street, just up the alley on the right (which also has no name) is the last house my mom lived in before immigrating to the United States. She said it is also the house she was living in when she brought my brother home from the hospital. He was born in 1975 & she immigrated to the States in 1980. She lived in this house for about 5 years.
During the photo walk portion of my photography workshop this past weekend, we walked up this street to get to the capital grounds on top of the hill, where students would practice their photography skills & create photos using the prompts in their scavenger hunt list. I made sure to make a little pit stop by this house (just on the road, we didn't go through the alley), where I shared a bit of my family history & why this project is so personal to me.
I also forgot to update you all on which house my mom & dad formerly lived in on Zandueta Street, the street that crosses the library. Here is a photo again (which I already featured in part 2), as well as its placement on the map. You can see that Puón Books/Alfredo F. Tadiar Library is just at the end of the street. 
I hate all the political tarps. LOL
On a final [side] note — I'd also like to point out that some of you may have noticed I added something new to this post, which are the interactive maps. Since a lot of my work really is a visual diary of place, I wanted to further help viewers visualise these locations by sharing maps of where they're actually at & what is surrounding them. This inclusion was inspired by the comic series Windmills: Bearings by Filipino komik artist, Josel Nicolas. I recently got to purchase this graphic novel at Puón & read it during breaks from my residency work. An autobiographical graphic novel, I was inspired by Josel's juxtapositions of his unique illustration style with photography & maps, to further give readers an understanding of place. Not only was this an art style I have not yet encountered in comics (although I can't say it's like I've read millions of them), his writing style was poetic, & his narratives on personal traumas & mortality were deeply heavy, yet oddly relatable. I also really appreciated his humor & very generational-specific references ranging from WWF (F, not E, because us millenials grew up during the WWF era still!), to music references like Oasis (my fav!) & Slade, to random illustrations of Gael Garcia Bernal for no real reason (maybe other than the fact that we grew up watching so many of his films in the early 2000s). Anyways, please consider this my modest book review & get your hands on this inspirational graphic novel if you don't already own it! But bear in mind (hehe), it does contain some very heavy topics.
I have one more post before I time out of my residency tomorrow, 3 May! 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.
I'm so excited to finally share that I am Alfredo F. Tadiar Library's second Balay da Judge artist-in-residence! While I've spent my first month in the Philippines exploring new places & reconnecting with friends & family, I'm spending my second month on this trip living & working at the Balay da Judge as part of my residency with the library. This residency is notably special to me, because it takes place in La Union, my family's home-province, where we have lived & thrived for generations.
For this residency, I am continuing my ongoing photo documentary project, Somnia Memorias (2018-present), which now consists of 3 different parts (part 3 is still currently in-progres), with the 4th part underway as part of my residency. The 4th part of the series focuses on San Fernando, the capital city of La Union. While my family is originally from San Juan, the neighboring municipality, much of my family has spent time in San Fernando, including my parents. San Fernando is particularly significant to me, because it is the place my parents first lived together as a couple & fell in love. Coincidentally, one of the houses my parents lived in together is on the street that crosses the library. For this project, my goal is to visit & document the barangays my parents used to live & spend time in together in San Fernando. Some of these barangays include Tanqui (where the library & bookshop is located), Catbangen (where the balay is), Ilocanos Norte & Lingsat. This project also attempts to trace back & log part of my family's history. One thing I wish I did more of before my father passed away was ask him more about himself, his family, who they were, where they're from, etc. It took me years to process this & name what it actually was: regret. When my dad passed, another father-less friend reminded me that all I have left is my mother, & to make the effort to talk & ask questions before it's too late. The start of this project has been interviewing my mother, asking about each immediate family member she knew of. Parents, siblings, half-siblings, etc. She only knew one grandparent, but barely knew him. I'm particularly drawn to finding out who he was. Aside from asking her about her immediate family, she's really the last connection I have left to my dad, or at least the last person who knew him the best. Of course I have my siblings, but none of us knew our dad the same way my mom did. By visiting the local places they once spent time in together, I'm hoping to also preserve a piece of contemporary La Union, with a special concentration on San Fernando. In addition to the photo documentary work, I'm also hosting a 2-day photo workshop, where I'll be teaching the basics of photography on day 1, & leading a photo scavenger hunt around the city on day 2! We will announce dates & times soon. Keep an eye out in this space for some digital previews of the work I'll be creating, before I officially process the film in a few months! Thank you to all of you who helped me get here, & thank you to the Artist Resistance Through Solidarity (ARTS) Foundation for partially funding my residency project as well!  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! My month-long stay in the motherland is coming to an end & I'll be headed to Japan this upcoming Saturday, where I'll be based for the next week. I've been in Manila since yesterday & have been crying ever since I left La Union. I never wanted to leave. To say the Philippines was an absolute dream is an understatement. Being in the land where my ancestors & family have thrived for generations was the healing I needed. It was more than just a holiday. It was a profoundly spiritual experience that entailed psychic ancestor communication via animals & rare natural phenomena, [re]connecting & repairing my relationship with the land, & deep interpersonal connection I never thought I would experience here. I have no idea when I'll be back, if ever again. Life takes hold & it's never easy to predict. But, I do know this was by far my best trip to the Philippines yet. From epic bike rides through acres of rice paddies, to the most coffee I've drank since I lived in Oregon, to vegan Filipino food, to the coolest book stores, independent art spaces & ukay-ukay — thank you to everyone who contributed to one of the most formative trips of my life. My crushed soul & spirit is healing. ❤️🩹 Here are some photos from our bike rides & brewing coffee by the river. Unless otherwise stated, all photos are from my Nikon ZF using a 24-70mm lens, imported to my iPhone using the Nikon SnapBridge app & lightly edited through my photos app. View from a computer for the full experience. Click an image to enlarge. 🗣️Ride or Die!Bike rides through Dangdangla & adjacent barangays early in my trip.  Welcome arch of Brgy Dangdangla, San Juan La Union; my mother's home village, where she was born & raised.  Pic from Tep Atento. Me (pink safety vest) & my beloved nephew & niece!  Pic from Tep Atento. KarayanFrom my last day in La Union on Tuesday. My nephew, niece & I rode our bikes, met up with friends & brewed coffee by the river. It was the best day ever. 🥲
 More side eye from Miss Sweeper. □    That's all for now. Feel free to leave a nice comment & share your thoughts!
I will try to sort through my photos from Cebu when I get a moment. There are so many. Until then, I'm Tokyo bound next, so stay tuned for photos from my first trip to Japan! Took a quick little day trip to Vigan with my nephew, niece & a friend. I wasn't too focused on doing a lot of photography this day, so only photographed a few of the places we visited. I just wasn't feeling it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here's some photos from my Nikon ZF using a 24-70mm lens, imported to my phone using the Nikon SnapBridge app & lightly edited through my photos app. Cristy's Loom Weaving I've been on the hunt for a certain pattern for a friend who requested it. However, I've had no luck finding it! It's okay tho. I've gotten to visit multiple establishments that carry handmade woven goods & got to visit this small weaving factory for the first time in Vigan. The weaver pictured here is a third generation weaver. She mentioned it takes about two weeks to finish a piece. 
Hidden GardenLast time I went to Vigan, this is where we went to get the famous empanadas that Vigan is known for. Hidden Garden also has an actual garden you can explore... with arguably racist sculptures presented throughout (not pictured)? 😅 Sad thing tho is, we weren't able to get our Vigan empanadas. We got there around 1130AM & they said the empanadas weren't available until after lunchtime. BOOOOOOOOOOO.
Misc ChurchI have no idea which church this was! We went to the Crisologo Museum then stumbled upon this church on our walk to our next destination. I tried looking on the map, but couldn't locate a church that looked like this. If you happen to know which church this is, leave a comment & let me know!
Feel free to leave a comment & share any thoughts! I might update this post again later with a map of the places we visited during this trip. Keep an eye out for the comments!
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
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