Over a year later, I am FINALLY concluding work from my ARROZidency artist-in-residence at OM France Viana Studio at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco.

As a last reminder, if you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of this series & starting from the beginning! View from a computer for the full experience.

A full round-up of my residency work, starting from my research in Cebu in 2024 up until this post, is available under the tag:

To view my main residency project only, which consists of my Cebu research & main photo documentary essay, that work is tagged under:

I am really excited to finally finish this project, because it's taken me over a year to do so! After reviewing all of the work, I hadn't realised how busy I actually was. It was a struggle to finish sooner due to more unexpected, drawn-out health issues last year after I came home from the Philippines. But now that I've finally had time to sit with the work, it felt like the right time to revisit & push myself to finish.

I haven't got much else to say other thank how thankful I am for this experience — a truly educational, healing, spiritual & transcendental experience in so many ways. And I am so, so thankful for all the people who supported me along the way, whether it was making a direct investment into the work itself, helping me secure housing, or even just meeting up to connect, spend time together, talk art & life. Altogether, it made for a deeply insightful experience.

These last few photos aren't really related to the work at all — yes & no. They were just a few misc photos I found on my camera roll from misc excursions. I recommend clicking on them to enlarge!
​
At the end of every day, even though I could have stayed late & gone on all night like I used to at my studio during my college days, I always made a point to leave the studio before dark. Every day, I left the studio in the Dogpatch district around sunset for a bike ride along the bay into Union Square. While it wasn't part of the art-making, per se, it was a way for me to clear my mind, unwind from the day & mentally prepare for the next day. The top-left photo was just from one of those days when I happened to stop & take a photo.

The right & bottom left photos are from misc walks from Union Square to my sublet in Nob Hill. Every day, I tried to take a different route to see if I saw something cool along the way. Revisiting the neon signage of the "Love These Flowers" was like visually giving flowers to myself for finally finishing this project. And the bottom right photo was something that just quickly caught my eye on a walk home one day. Hendrix's Axis: Bold as Love​, a skate deck & misc tagging. Thinking of the last song on the album as I finish this series. Thanks for reading this far. :)

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

It was Sunday, February 2, 2025. The rain was making its way through San Francisco & I had a ticket to the Asian Art Museum's free admission day. The rain was coming down & I remember being on the phone with my partner in the morning, asking him if I should still go, because it was raining & I wanted to be cozy. 😅 He encouraged me to go, because I may never get another chance to experience this again. I got dressed & had a short bike ride over to the museum from my sublet in Nob Hill. 

I was hoping that even though it was the free admission day, that not many people would be there because it was raining. I was sadly mistaken, haha! It was a bit too crowded for my taste, too noisy, I had a hard time navigating the galleries, some of the galleries were closed for installation, & from what I did get to see, I wasn't really impressed with the exhibitions.

However, the main thing I wanted to experience at the museum was the lion dance performance. Having experienced my first lion dance performance just the year prior, I wanted to relive that electrifying feeling again. 

While the program was sadly so unorganized, the performance itself was so much fun to experience. At this time, having just left LA for this residency as the fires were erupting, I wanted to bring back some good fortune and cast off any lingering bad energy before returning to LA.

🐍 I hope everyone is feeling the energy of rebirth and renewal as we all finish shedding our skin from the year of the wood snake. Now, as we enter the year of the fire horse, I wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year, Tết, and Seollal!

Fun fact: I was born in the year of the horse (in the 1900s)! The horse is known for being strong, independent & anti-authoritarian by nature. May we all channel our big fire horse energy this year as we dream of a future where authority & hierarchies no longer exist. ❤️‍🔥🐎

Shout out LionDanceME for their high-energy performance! Here's some photos of their performance from last year.

Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Click any image below to enlarge.

Sharing more of the extended research & photography of my month long ARROZidency artist-in-residence.

If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom to start at the beginning. View from a computer for the full experience!
​
As another reminder, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

My month in San Francisco for my ARROZidency was surrounded by art and creatives. I felt/feel incredibly fortunate & grateful for the experience, because I got to meet so many artists, as well as reconnect with artists & friends I hadn't seen in real life for a number of years. It was amazing to feel like I was immersed in a community of creatives again, & also have access to art everywhere. From my residency studio, its facilities & all the people who work there, to the galleries just across the street, to even the temp sublet I was renting in Nob Hill.

Of course, while spending my time getting creative & connecting with other artists, I also got to experience some exhibitions & soak up some inspiration that way. Here's a few shows I got to check out in-person!

​Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Click any image below to enlarge.

My residency host invited me, another artist at the studio (who was also a former AIR) & his spouse to check out the last few days of Spirit House at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. You can check out a virtual tour of the program on their website. I appreciate that some institutions & arts spaces still offer this accessibility option for the many reasons some cannot make it to art exhibitions in-person. I also did not photograph every single work, just a few of my favorites. So definitely head over to their website to view the full exhibition of works & to learn more!

The artwork themselves were phenomenal, the collection was a great choice, & the placement of everything was very thoughtful. I have no notes or edits on the layout, selection, or the artwork at all. I just have a lot to say about exhibitions like these. However, I'm not an art critic, so I'm saving that discourse for real life conversations. If you know me, you already know how I feel about it. ;)
​

Stephanie H. Shih
Offering (Ash Tower), 2023
ceramic and steel
​
​

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya
What Remains, 2024
​rice boxes, paint, rice, rebar, wood, cast hands, beads, thread, rope, wire, and textile

​

right:
Cathy Lu
Banana Tree, 2023
ceramic and joss sticks

left:
Reagan Louie
Window, San Francisco, Chinatown, 2005
archival pigment print
edition 2 of 5

I might be biased, because I love photography (obviously) & didn't see a lot of of it in the exhibition, but Louie's photo was probably my favorite piece in the show. Not necessarily because it was a photograph, but the simplicity of a still life photo down to the smaller scale of the piece compared to the (sometimes) overwhelming size of everything else managed to say a lot. Sometimes less is more, & this piece truly embodied that for me. This was a peak into someone's world, something that was relatable for me in just this one small photo. I'm not Chinese, but it's something about the clutter and maximalism of a small space that speaks to the universal experience of growing up in a small immigrant household.

​

Nina Molloy
Shrine, 2021–2022
oil on canvas

​

Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Nothing Is Ever Lost, Nothing Ever Gained, 2022
brass from artillery shells, mounted on black stainless steel

Nothing Ever Dies, 2022
singing bowl pounded from 122 mm brass artillery shell, tuned to note G at 410 Hz

Dinh Q. Lê
​Cambodia Reamker #29, 2022
​Epson inkjet print on Epson double-weight matte paper, acid-free double-sided tape, and PH-neutral linen book tape

Maia Cruz Palileo
Big Lolo, Little Lolo, 2021
wood, milk paint, table

Korakrit Arunanondchai
Shore of Security, 2022
repurposed wooden dollhouse made by the artist's mother, wood, house paint polyurethane, fabric sculpture, ceramics snake skeleton, and LED lights

​

I don't think these tapestries were technically part of the exhibition? There seems to be no clickable description about them in the virtual tour — so, unsure!

​

Friend & residency co-host Malou with her baby girl, Habibi!

Oscar yi Hou
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, aka: Bushwick Bleeding Hearts Club, 2022
oil and gouache on canvas

I got to check out Cian Dayrit's solo exhibition Liberties Were Taken at Root Division during SF Art Week, a week-long celebrations of San Francisco's art scene that takes place across multiple galleries and creative spaces. I attended a curator-led walkthrough of the exhibition that was very informative, & the curator was a very professional presenter, making it was clear they did a lot of research and studying for this exhibition. Also got to meet a rad fellow photographer, Hunter, who works at the gallery & took this photo of me in action, haha!

Here were some of my fav pieces from the show. While I did enjoy the Spirit House exhibition a lot, I have to say I liked this one more. And not because the artist is Filipino, but I appreciate smaller community art spaces like these more over large institutions.

Last but not least, I got to check out Dark Matter presented by The Space Program at Minnesota Street Project for SF Art Week, one of the main events of the week.

I was very lucky to have been located so close to this event, with the studios being just across the street. One of the artists at the studio whom I'd gotten to know over the month also had work part of this program. I also learnt this night, that the owner of Re.riddle (one of the gallery spaces at Minnesota Street Project) was also the curator of the exhibition I got to see at Edge on the Square! It was really amazing in the end how all my experiences connected with each other.

Below are a few of my fav pieces from Dark Matter, but here is a full list of works if you'd like you see what else was shown. Some of the work below was not part of the Dark Matter​ program, but from exhibitions at one of the galleries that were open during the opening night — so make sure to check out that image list for accuracy!

Ben Venom
Night Flyers, 2024
hand-made quilt with fabric
39” x 51”

​

left:
​Richard Colman 
Untitled (Aluminum Leaf), 2024
20” x 23”
silkscreen, acrylic and aluminum leaf on paper

right: 
Untitled (Gold Leaf), 2024
20” x 23”
silkscreen, acrylic and gold leaf on paper

​

left:
Oliver Hawk Holden
Watermelon inflatable in solidarity with Palestine, 2023
Ripstop nylon, HVAC fan, plywood, and sheet metal 
8' x 8' x 16'

​top right:
Jay Howell 
22” x 24”
Untitled, 2024
​5 color silkscreen

​bottom right painting: 
Yarrow Slaps
Castles burn and new grounds rise, 2024
12" x 12"
acrylic on canvas

bottom right sculptures:
Yarrow Slaps
Star Lady Plant Head and King Bruh Bruh w the glasses, 2024
ceramic

​

Gianluca Franzese
Arteries of the Earth, 2024 
aluminum leaf, silver leaf, copper leaf, 12k white gold leaf, 18k and 22k gold leaf with acrylic glazes on panel
48 x 60.75"

​

​Mildred Howard's Bottle Houses at Anglim/Trimble.

​

Works from Rena Bransten Gallery's Summoning group exhibition.

left: 
Lava Thomas
I Walk in the Light of My Ancestors' Prayers, 2024
altered tambourines, acrylic marker on metallic leather, mirrored acrylic disks, grosgrain ribbon
59.5" x 115.25" x 2"

​right:
​Viviana Paredes
Everywhere / nowhere, 2018
cast glass, ceramic beads, steel plate
sculpture: 6" x 13" x 10"
steel plate: 15" x 13" x 0.25"

Sharing more of the extended research & photography of my month long ARROZidency artist-in-residence.

If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom to start at the beginning. View from a computer for the full experience!
​
As another reminder, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

A place I really wanted to visit during my time in the Bay was the San Francisco Mission, which I had just learnt was actually split into 2 different structures, including the Mission San Francicso de Asis & then Mission Dolores.

For anyone new here, I'm not religious, Catholic or Christian. However, I am interested in the history of the California Missions, because I'm interested in the parallels between the Natives of so-called California & the Natives of the so-called Philippines.

Strange, but one of my life goals is to someday visit all 21 California Missions. I've only visited 4. ​😅

Anyways, as someone part of the Ilokano/Filipino-Californian diaspora, I'm interested in the parallels between our histories because we share the same colonisers — Spain & the so-called United States of America — with both still having a traumatic chokehold on our cultures. Whenever I visit a church in the Philippines, my first thought is, "This feels like I'm in California." And when I visit a church in California, I find myself thinking the reverse: "I feel like I'm in the Philippines." It's these feelings that lead me to believe that the Californian diasporic experience is particularly unique among Filipinos.

[ For some quick comparisons, check out my more recent photos of the church in San Juan, La Union, where my father was baptised in the 1930s & where we had his mass before his internment; the Namacpacan church in Luna, La Union; & the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, where I started my research for this residency. ]

​The Mission in San Francisco is the oldest structure in the city & it also houses the oldest & only cemetery within the city limits. This was particularly interesting for me, because while I haven't been to many CA Missions yet, this is the only one I've been to (so far?) with a cemetery. I'll share more history on the cemetery below.

Starting with some exterior views of the Mission San Francisco de Asis, moving into the interior, to the cemetery, and to the interior of the Mission Dolores Basilica.

​Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Click any image below to enlarge.

St. Joseph's Altar (1810). Anonymous. wood, gold leaf, oil paint.
Left to right: St. John of Capistrano, Saint Joseph, St. Bonaventure.

St. Anthony's Altar ​(1810). Anonymous. wood, gold leaf, oil paint.
​Left to right: St. Pascual of Baylón, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Solano.

Reredos, Main Altar (1797). Anonymous. wood, gold leaf, oil paint.

According to church signage:

The reredos was crafted in Mexico and brought to the mission in 1797.

Clockwise from top left: St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy. St. Joachim, father of Mary. St. Michael the Archangel. St. Clare of Assisi, founder of the order known as the Poor Clares. St. Francis of Assisi with the stigmata. St. Anne, mother of Mary. Crucifix. Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. Tabernacle.

After a quick search, I learnt that a reredos is a type of altarpiece.

According to Britannica:

altarpiece, work of art that decorates the space above and behind the altar in a Christian church. Painting, relief, and sculpture in the round have all been used in altarpieces, either alone or in combination. These artworks usually depict holy personages, saints, and biblical subjects.

Several technical terms are associated with altarpieces. The predella is a low, decorated strip intended to raise the main part of the altarpiece to a height where it is readily visible from a distance. A diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two painted panels, a triptych has three panels, and a polyptych has four or more panels. A winged altarpiece is one equipped with movable wings that can be opened or closed over a fixed central part, thereby allowing various representations to be exposed to view. The term reredos is used for an ornamental screen or partition that is not directly attached to the altar table but is affixed to the wall behind it. The term retable simply refers to any ornamental panel behind an altar.

Ceiling.

Pictured right is the Mission museum, which houses a fair amount of Native crafts & artifacts from the Ohlone people. To be honest, I didn't want to take photos of any of it. ​😕

Ceramic mosaic mural by San Francisco artist, Guillermo Granizo (1923-1996). According to Granizo, "In the garden of the mission is a mural of the Spanish Ship "San Carlos" that was sent by the Spaniards to the Pueblo San Francisco to sponsor and colonize the area."

For centuries, the Native Raymatush Ohlone inhabited the peninsula. Near the Mission was once the Chutchui village, where Franciscan monks later decided to build the Mission.

While the church interiors were interesting to me, I was particularly drawn to the cemetery because it was my first time seeing one at one of the CA Missions. And it wasn't just interesting to me because I love gothic aesthetics! It actually has a disturbing & dark history (no pun intended).

Interred at this cemetery are around 5,000 Native Ohlone people. Sources say that they supposedly died due to bad weather & diseases brought from Europe. Somehow, I have a feeling the "bad weather" reason is a crock of shit. We all know by now that genocide of Native people via disease & illnesses is nothing new, especially now as we are witnessing the genocide of the Palestinian people, whom the Israeli government has blocked from receiving life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.

​There's also no way I counted 5,000 headstones at this cemetery, so they were likely buried together in an unmarked mass grave. Like all the other CA Missions, this one was no different. It was built by the forced labor of CA Natives, who were called "Indios" & violently forced to convert to Catholicism & adopt a Spanish name — just like the Natives of the so-called Philippines. 

Statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

I hope one day this statue of Junipero Serra is toppled, too. ​😤

Also at this cemetery is a statue of Kateri Tekakwitha, who apparently was a Native Mohawk woman from New York who converted to Catholicism & later became a saint. Beneath her statue reads "In prayerful memory of our faithful Indians." Some believe she was placed in the cemetery to ease animosity between the Natives & the Mission, & to serve as a marker for those unnamed.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find who this statue is of. 😅 If you happen to know, please feel free to drop a comment! I did love the juxtaposition of the statue with the green & the orange cone, so I decided to keep these in color.

While the Mission San Francisco de Asis was founded in 1776 (technically JUST before the United States was established as a country!), the Mission Dolores Basilica was built 100 years after in 1876.

I don't know what more to say about this basilica, other than the fact that it reminds me of churches in the Philippines. ​😅 This was the last space I visited at the Mission site. I didn't get any photos of the ceiling mural, but make sure to look up if you visit. While the small Mission church certainly had its own charm, the basically was epic in comparison.

​​As I've concluded my main project for my residency, I'm now sharing the rest of my photography, research & experience during my month-long ARROZidency. 

If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom to start at the beginning. View from a computer for the full experience!
​
As another reminder, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

​Prior to arriving in San Francisco, I was notified that we would be having a studio visit from a curator at the Asian Art Museum, just a few days after I settled into the studio. It was a bit stressful to prepare some work to present in advance! However, it was also exciting and satisfying. As a residency participant, I was happy I received the full experience that was advertised: the opportunity to connect with curators & other artists.

Of course, I could have gone simple & just made a few prints or brought in some older work, but I like making my life more difficult. 🥴 That also wouldn't have really resembled my aesthetic, & I wanted to present something closer to the type of work that I actually make.

By now, most people know that my work is mainly lens-based, but in the last decade I've been thinking a lot about grief & offerings to the metaphysical & what this can look like — so, like I've done in the past, I wanted the two practices to meet. A friend pointed out recently that I use a lot of red in my work, & I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since. For this installation, I wanted to stick to a color palette of red, gold & black as closely as possible, similar to the riso prints I made for this project.

And although it may seem like hoarding, I promise there's a method to my madness & a reason why I collect so much ephemera on any trips I take, & it's because I know they'll be used again for an installation at some point or repurposed in some way. The installation was untitled, but it combined my newer photography with ephemera collected from recent trips to the Philippines, with each tier serving as a mini altar and offering to each place or item.
​

Pictured left is the mock-up of the installation that I'd originally envisioned. As you can see, it had slight edits later, as well as some additions of items I didn't originally photograph for the mock-up.

When we think of altars & the spirit realms, we often think of tiers, namely the 3 tiers of the underworld, physical world, & spirit world. Originally, I'd wanted to create a 3-tier installation, which would have made more sense for me, but wall space was limited & I wanted a decent amount of spacing in between columns. I also think a lot about tiers when thinking about the homeland, & the tiered rice paddies throughout our region that have been tended to by generations of ancestors.

Everything from the collection of ephemera to the size choice is a reference to the maximalism & space limitations many of us experienced in working class immigrant households. Our family always wanted to maximise any small space to display as many memories as they could share, whether it was small printed photos from family gatherings, or prayer cards wedged into a corner of a frame.

​Click any image below to enlarge. Installation shots were photographed with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Most pictured here were used in the installation. Some ended up not being used, but I photographed them for the purposes of including them in mock-up designs. Some additional misc ephemera ended up being added at the last minute, because I randomly found them later in my junk collection (sadly, not pictured below).

I've always been in the practice of collecting ephemera from trips, both as memory keepsakes & also to think about how they could be repurposed in the future. While not all that is shown below ended up being used in the installation, each had its own significance that I look back on fondly. Here's a description list for each item. Click on an image below for its corresponding number, but it will go from left to right.

1. This rosary wasn’t collected in the Philippines. It was left on an altar I made for my late friend Xam, placed there by his mother. It goes on every altar installation I create now, & even though he is gone, it's my small way of inviting him.

2 & 7. Prayer booklets & prayer card in Bisaya & English, & mini statue that I purchased from a religious souvenir shop opposite the basilica in Cebu, where I also purchased my Santo Niño statue (#4).

3. Plane tickets on my first ever trip to Cebu — hopefully not the last trip, because there's still so much more I need to explore on that island!

4. Small wooden Santo Niño statue I purchased at the religious souvenir shop opposite the basilica in Cebu. This is the same statue I brought with me to get blessed during the two Santo Niño Fiestas photographed in my VENERATING AN ICON photo essay project.

5-6, 11. Prayer booklet & prayer cards I purchased at a religious souvenir shop at the Namacpacan Church in Luna, La Union — home of the largest image of the Mama Mary (Apo Baket) across the archipelago. More on this below.

8. Ceramic Santo Niño sculpture I found at a public market while shopping for woven items in San Fernando, La Union. 

9. My memory is hazy, but I think I bought this rosary at the religious souvenir shop at Namacpacan Church, or possibly the one in Cebu.

10 & 13. Mama Mary keychain & screenprinted Ilokano prayer cloth from the religious souvenir shop at Namacpacan Church. My original mock-up incorporated the prayer cloth, but the size was so much bigger than everything else, it threw the design off-balance, so I scratched it.

12. Receipt from a clothing shop near the basilica in Cebu. Much like the Vatican in Italy, they JUST started enforcing a dress code only a couple of days before we visited. They wouldn't let me in, because they could see the backs of my knees! I had to find a shop nearby that sold long skirts that I could put over my dress. 

14-16. Magnets we bought on the street next to the basilica in Cebu. I ended up not using any of these in the final installation, & instead ended up giving some to my residency host.

All of these were photographed on a table outside with my iPhone, then I uploaded them into Canva & used the background remover tool. 😅​

Printed digital photos in order of appearance from left column to right column in the installation. Left column of photos were from my 2024 visit to Cebu City to visit the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu. Left column of photos were from my 2024 visit to Luna, La Union to visit the Apo Baket. You can read more about both trips, the history, research & significance of them in my photo series Return Call.

I knew that for this installation, I wanted to include photography from my trip to Cebu, because it was closely related to the work I would be doing in my residency, photographing the Santo Niño Fiestas. 

However, I decided to include photos of my recent trip to Luna, because similarly to the Santo Niño de Cebu, the Mama Mary in Luna also has miraculous lore behind her dating back to the Spanish colonial period. However, while it's true that her existence in Luna is miraculous, she gets nowhere near as much tourism as the Santo Niño de Cebu does, & seems more like just a local legend instead of an international wonder. I wanted to juxtapose the two, because while I may be Filipina, Cebu & the Bisayas are not my culture, as someone with origins in the Ilokano provinces of the Northern Philippines. I wanted to include something closer to our culture to be more representative of the local history of the region we're from.

Photos 1-4 were from Cebu. Photos 5-9 were from Luna.

Click an image below to enlarge. ​

Lastly, I got to have a few studio visits with some local artists & others. This residency was so busy, because nearly every day I was working on something, going somewhere, meeting someone, or having someone over for a studio visit.

​Here are some photos from some of the visits I had:
​
​Photos by Adrian Discipulo. It was exciting to meet Adrian for multiple reasons. Before starting the residency, I was raising funds & selling some of my work left over from an art fair a few months prior. Adrian ended up contacting me online for one of the prints. When asking for his mailing address, I saw he was based in NorCal & told him I would be there for a month, if he wanted to stop by the studio, because I appreciate trying to meet my buyers when I can. It eases my mind to know who I'm selling to is a decent person & the work will go to a good home.

Anyways, he ended up coming by. He is also a photographer, which was fun to have someone to talk about gear with! After getting to know each other a bit, we also learnt that our families are both from the same province in the Philippines, from neighboring towns! The town where my parents went to school & university, next to the town where they were born. It's always exciting to meet someone else from the same province, let alone town! We also got to check out some exhibition openings for San Francisco Art Week over at the Minnesota Street Project galleries, just opposite the studios. I will share these photos later!
​
The soft quality of Adrian's photos was my fav. Thank you for these!

Photos by Ellie Lopez. Ellie is a NorCal-based poet I got to work with on a photography x poetry program for my project MATA ART GALLERY. She ended up coming by to visit & bought some remaining prints. We ended up going on an impromptu visit to the San Francisco botanical garden, where we learnt we both love pro-wrestling, LOL! We had dinner at a vegan restaurant near the garden & ended the night with boba. It was great to spend 1:1 time with someone I kept in touch with online for so long. She was so kind, supportive & generous. Thank you for visiting!

Lastly, my older brother was kind enough to come up to visit me for a few days. He has a fond connection to the Bay, since he lived there for 7 years. We had so much fun doing classic San Francisco stuff, like riding the streetcars (which I haven't done since I was a kid), riding the ferris wheel, eating seafood & ice cream at the pier, & driving up to Petaluma to visit our cousin who had just given birth. He also helped me deinstall & pack up my studio, which felt so bittersweet. The month was so busy, it truly went by so fast. 

​Silly pics from my brother's iPhone below, because I can't always be serious about everything all the time! If you know, you know. *queues entrance music*

This is the last part of my 3-part series, VENERATING AN ICON. I originally was not planning to make a part 3, but recently came across the original proposal for this project & thought it would be fun to share. It's fun to look back at how I envisioned the project panning out & to have accomplished what I proposed!

Again, for anyone who's just hopping on to this series, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of & starting from part 1.

​In case you missed it, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

For an extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit:

Check out my proposal deck. After viewing the project, what do you think? Did I accomplish what I proposed, or is there more you would have liked to see?

Additional photos & research from the rest of my residency are forthcoming & will be tagged under ARROZidency.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

This is the last section of the second part of my VENERATING AN ICON documentary photo essay. If you are starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of this series & starting from part 1.

In case you missed it, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

Even more people brought their Santo Niños this time & it was so cute seeing the diverse kinds that people owned! Some titas even shared interesting stories with me about how they came to own their Santo Niños. One tita told me she allegedly rescued her Santo Niño from the trash. 🤣 She legit told me this. Y'all think she was telling the truth or was she lying at church?

This is where all the titas got up & started dancing with their Santo Niños! France on the right with the sheer shawl dancing with the Santo Niño I brought from Cebu. ​🕺🏻

Additional photos & research from the rest of my residency are forthcoming & will be tagged under ARROZidency.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

The second part of this 3-part series is split into 3 sections, as it's quite long. If you are starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of this series & starting from part 1.

Because these blog posts cannot support video embeds if there is a lot of media content, here is a short video from my YouTube channel that documents part of the Sinulog performance at the second Santo Niño Fiesta we attended. It was so cute seeing the titas get up & dance with their Santo Niños! The last part will have photos of the performance, but it just hits different watching the movements & hearing the sounds of the music & singing.

​Video was filmed on my iPhone.

And again, in case you missed it, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

For an extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit:

2.3 will be the last section of part 2 of my main residency project series!

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

The second part of this 2-part series will, in itself, be split into 3 sections, as it's quite long. If you are starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of this series & starting from part 1.

And, in case you missed it, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags:

​For my main residency project only, visit:

The second Santo Niño Fiesta we visited was at Saint Augustine Catholic Church in South San Francisco (which is its own city separate from the City of San Francisco). SSF is the city next to San Bruno, where the first fiesta took place. It is also adjacent to Daly City, where a large FilAm community resides.

South San Francisco was just a BART ride away from where I was staying in San Francisco proper. While the interior architecture of this church wasn't as interesting as the first church, there was a lot more to look at within the exterior church complex itself. It reminded me a lot of the churches I've visited in the Philippines. The church was also a lot more spacious, with more room for the Sinulog performance later on. I'll share those photos in parts 2.2-2.3!

This event was similar to the last one, where they had a procession for the Santo Niño, Mass, & people brought their own Santo Niños to be blessed. It was actually very exciting to see more people bring their images, & to see the many diverse kinds!

Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens.

Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience.

Sections 2.2 & 2.3 of part 2 are forthcoming, which will contain both photo & video!

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

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.

​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.

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.

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.

Earlier this week I went for a short sunset walk in the barangay of Lingsat in San Fernando, La Union. Like I'd previously mentioned, since it's been so hot, I've been trying to plan my photo outings around other errands I have to run, so that I can do photography closer to sunset, when it's less hot & the lighting is immaculate.

It's not technically an errand, more of a luxury, but there's a nail salon I started going to in Lingsat to get my nails done. I've been working on this project so much, I also need breaks & moments to treat myself! We all do. So I headed over to get my nails done first, then walked to a specific street to do some photography.

Part of my mom's family history took place in Lingsat, specifically Hufano St. This is the street my older brother grew up on with our cousins early in his childhood, when our mother first immigrated to the US. He would then immigrate 5 years after her.

My tita Rebing & manong Ronald both passed away nearly 2 years ago, one after the other... I didn't grow up here, but I also spent a lot of time here, both in childhood & as an adult. I decided to revisit so I could document what's left of this place to me.

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.

Walking down Hufano St felt warm & familiar, until I arrived at my tita's house & it was nearly unrecognisable. I only recognised the property because I remembered it was a corner lot & I remembered what the gate looked like. I was sad to see the small dwellings behind the main house were gone — the lot is now empty. And I know it doesn't make sense to keep since she passed away, but I was also so disappointed to see her sari-sari store gone. I spent so many slow morning's at this store, having breakfast, & hanging out with my nieces & nephews.

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.

They also still had Christmas decorations up, but it was still cute. ​😅

Not sure the exact cause, but last week I experienced one of the worst migraines I've ever had. I was laying in my darkened room with the blinds shut. Any light & sound was making my head pound, & it hurt to look at anything. I tried taking an hour nap & woke up feeling worse! Took a cold shower that didn't help either. I took some meds & knocked out for another 5 hours, & that ended up doing the trick. It could have been caused by a combo of lack of sleep (which is not uncommon for me, sadly), heat exhaustion & maybe even dehydration. After a busy week & that migraine spell, Friday came along & I felt entitled to treating myself to a spa day, hehe.

​I took a tricycle to the spa, then took one back & got off at the town plaza so I could head back to the residence in Catbangen on foot. ​During my walk around Catbangen, I decided to take some side streets to find a local mini mart. It was closed, but I randomly happened to come across my mom's former high school. I often enjoy taking side streets because they're quieter & sometimes you just find things you wouldn't expect to see, whether they're locations or just cool compositions.

Saw this sick tricycle sidecar with flames painted on it. Along with the epic sunset lighting, it's giving Philippine Flavortown aesthetic. ​🔥

I love the juxtaposition of nature with rusty textures & colors. When you think of it, rust is just a chemical reaction that happens naturally when steel or iron corrode from the meeting of oxygen & water. 

Aside from reconnecting with friends & exploring the island, Kaamulan is the main reason why I wanted to come to Mindanao this time! I was really hoping to experience the grand entry & hopefully see some performances or Native games, but we weren't able to this time. Hopefully next time if I'm ever able to visit again! Nonetheless, it was great to connect, experience the art, view how different their art styles are, but also draw connections as well. While the cultures of the Northern & Southern Philippines can greatly vary, I hope people can also realise the similarities we share with our relatives in the south.

The Kaamulan Festival is a large month-long cultural gathering of the ethnic tribes of the Bukidnon province in Mindanao. Held in the provincial capital of Malaybalay, it is a special time for the seven tribes to unite. I was told the festival has been going on for a little over 50 years, but some believe it may have been celebrated even farther back.

Although I didn't get to experience any music or performances this time, I got to leave the festival dripping in brass jewellery — something I was hoping to leave with. Throughout the Northern & Southern Philippines, brass is used to make musical instruments & accessories. Brass instruments are played for an array of uses such as communication, ceremony, or celebration. As accessories, brass is worn to ward off bad energies & spirits.

All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. The women portrayed below consented to me photographing them.

View photos from a computer for the full experience. Click any image below to enlarge.

We had the unique opportunity to stay at an accommodation in Malaybalay that was near the Abbey of Transfiguration. Nestled among acres of banana & cacao trees, the abbey is a Catholic monastery that has a pyramid-shaped church, as well as a coffee plantation that is farmed, harvested, & roasted by the monks that live in the monastery. Make sure to grab a bag of their Monk's Blend coffee beans at their gift shop! If you are interested in going inside the church, please note that they do have a dress code, just like the Vatican in Rome & now the Basilica de Santo Niño in Cebu.

And that concludes my 9-day trip to Mindanao. 9 days was not enough, but I'm so happy & grateful I got to experience it at least once. I hope this is not the last time I will be in Mindanao. I just know there's still so much to see & experience here. And while I know these don't seem like a lot of photos, I was honestly just trying to be there & be immersed in it all.

Eternally grateful to my friend's Nikki & RM for taking the time to show me around Mindanao, & also dealing with some of the unnecessary qualms I came with. 😅 Thank you for everything! Please check out their newest project that is currently underway, Balay Kasamtangan. If you have the means to, please redistribute your wealth & support their one of a kind project!

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

If you're into Spanish historic destinations, check out Paseo de Santiago. This park is a paid tourist attraction along the ocean, & is named after Spanish "explorer", Santiago de la Cruz, who is credited for "discovering" the Iligan Bay in the 16th Century. While this is considered a historic destination, I've read that the park itself is a newer tourist attraction. Aside from the park & lush scenery, they also have food vendors, occasionally host events & offer rentals. This park has paid admission & honors senior discounts.

My mother came with me on this trip to Mindanao this time. I can't stress enough how I'm at the point now where I'm starting to feel like the parent, haha! Anyways, before our trip, she said she hadn't been to Mindanao since the 1970's. And she mentioned one thing she really wanted to bring back to La Union was dried fish, claiming that is a really nice cuisine they have there. My friend was kind enough to bring us to Tambo Public Market, where she was able to buy dried pusit (squid), & other fish. These are typically fried & served with garlic rice, eggs & some sort of veggie side dish for breakfast. 🦑​

I'm sure some of you can tell that these interior photos in the market are dark inside. I had to use quite a high ISO. Once bringing them into Lightroom, they were very noisy. I do not recommend Lightroom's AI noise removal tool, as it makes the photos look way too fake. Instead, use the option to manually reduce the noise. They won't be perfect & noise-free, but the tool does help, in moderation.

These photos are all out of sequence, but I wanted to share this image last. After exploring Iligan with friends for the day, they brought me to a malongan, a shop that sells malongs. For a long time, I've been drawn to butterflies, & I immediately spotted a malong with a butterfly pattern. My friend & I both agreed we'd never seen a malong with butterflies on it. Of course I had to get it. After some shopping, we stepped out to end up at the Tubod River (I think this is the one).

Upon stepping out to the river, we noticed a black butterfly landed on my arm & flew away. When my dad passed away years ago, I remember a black butterfly staying on the ceiling above his casket for days during the week-long wake. Not sure exactly who was communicating with me this time, but could feel this was a messenger from the spirit world making sure we were protected on this trip.

​Part 2 of my Mindanao trip is forthcoming, followed by a special announcement on why I'm in the Philippines again for TWO months!

​If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

The Jumalon Butterfly Santuary & Art Gallery is a lesser-known attraction I found in my travel guide. Many of you who know me well know that I really love butterflies. Aesthetically they're beautiful, but I also love what they represent metaphorically. Transition, transformation, change, movement, migration, travel & sometimes return (depending on the type).

If you love nature, science & art, I highly recommend visiting this space. There is a small entrance fee, but if you are in a position to donate more, please do as the sanctuary is completely sustained by the family & is not supported by any government funding. You can also support by letting more people know about the sanctuary. From what the remaining family members told us, they were getting so many more visitors, school & university tours prior to the pandemic. Like many small businesses & DIY spaces, the pandemic took a toll on their foot traffic. So if you happen to be in Cebu City, please make sure to pay this unique space a visit.

Here are some photos from my Nikon ZF. Fair warning, not all are nice. I documented some just for the sake of documenting, so please don't come at me in the comments with mean banter. Be nice to me. 🥹

A few outdoor butterfly sculpture displays.

Here's some photos of the interior gallery displays. Small, intimate, & situated on the ground level of the family's home, this gallery was like stepping into a time capsule of someone's personal life. Filled with dozens of insects, this gallery also displayed plenty of misc bric-a-brac collected during Jumalon's travels over the decades. The best part of this gallery was its unpretentious & DIY nature. Everything had its own charm & personality, including the ceiling fan, old AC wall unit, cocoons inside of plastic food containers, & mismatched fabrics used to cover the displays. I hope if this collection is ever acquired by a museum, they display it exactly like this, because this is not only a collection of art & science, but it's a history of a multigenerational family's life, which is just as important & equally deserves to be preserved in the same caliber. 

Last stop at the sanctuary was the art gallery (entrance pictured above), which housed all of Jumalon's award-winning original watercolor & mosaic paintings. Once inside, there is no photography allowed. I'm assuming due to fear of illegal reproductions, which is understandable. This means you'll have to visit in-person someday to see what the paintings look like! 😉

This was the main thing I wanted to go to Cebu for. I wanted to learn about the origins of the Santo Niño in the Philippines & go back to where it all started. It's quite a lot to explain & this post is already very long, but you can learn about the history on the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu official website.
​
If you do plan to visit the basiilica, make sure to wear proper attire. It is a lot like the Vatican now: full of tourists & dress code rules. Make sure you wear a top with sleeves that does not expose your chest or back, wear close-toed shoes, & if you are wearing a dress, skirt or shorts, make sure they are well past your knees, including the backs of your knees when you bend over. They will not let you in otherwise! I thought my dress was long enough, but they saw the backs of my knees & did not let me enter. I ended up having to go to a shop nearby that sold long skirts. The funny thing was, they just started enforcing this new dress code maybe one or two days before we visited. There are loads of vendors outside the basilica selling prayer candles & other religious souvenirs. There could be a new market for the vendors to now sell long skirts & shirts. 😅

Lastly, please note that some parts of the basilica are not handicap accessible. ​😔

A bit difficult to photograph the interior of the cathedral, since visitors are not allowed to do photography past a certain point. I tried my best!

Magellan's Cross, found just outside of the basilica compound, symbolises the Spanish colonisation & Christianisation of the Philippines in 1521. ​😮‍💨 The mural depicts the baptism of the former Cebu royalty to Catholicism.

El Fuerte de San Pedro (Fort San Pedro) is the oldest fort in the Philippines. This makes sense, since the first Spanish settlement was in Cebu. Sources online state that you can view original artworks & Spanish artifacts at the fort. This is no longer true, as they have been acquired by the National Museum. The museum is located just next door & you can easily walk on over to learn more about Cebuano & Bisayan history, both precolonial & colonial.

Fort San Pedro is not handicap accessible. If I recall, the National Museum does have lifts & accessible toilets available.

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.​

Bike rides through Dangdangla & adjacent barangays early in my trip.

From 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. ​🥲

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.

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.

Last 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.

I 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!

This 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 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!