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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: For the full extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit: 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.
  
  
    
     
 Additional photos & research from the rest of my residency are forthcoming & will be tagged under ARROZidency.
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Happy Lunar New Year from so-called San Francisco, CA! I've been in SF for a little over two weeks now, participating in an artist-in-residence program I was invited to nearly a year ago. This was something I was looking forward to all of last year & I've been having an amazing time so far. In just these past two weeks, I've got to connect with so many incredibly talented artists & arts professionals, experience so much art & culture, eat phenomenal food, & go on some scenic bike rides through parks & along the Bay. It's been an absolute dream. I hesitated to share about this sooner since many of you know I mostly work in silence & don't post a lot online. Especially within these last 1-1.5 years with the genocide & ongoing occupation of Palestine, then with the massive wildfires back in my hometown of Los Angeles erupting across the city right as I left for my residency, I've struggled with sharing because it hasn't felt good to me. However, in the next couple weeks as I start to wrap up my month-long residency, I'll be sharing more about what I've been making here in SF, as well as some more exciting news for my artistic "career". 2025 is year of the wood snake. The snake symbolises good luck & rebirth. Many of us in LA have had a rough start to 2025, & so many in Palestine have lost so much over nearly a century. I can't even begin to imagine what some are going through. But, while fire may be associated with destruction, it also comes with rebirth & regrowth. As we spend at least the next decade (or more) rebuilding, I hope 2025 is the year we all begin to rethink our relationship to the earth & each other, & the changes we need to make to ensure we see the land & our communities thrive for many more years. Feel free to let me know in the comments what your hopes are for year of the wood snake. 🪵🐍 Anyways! Here's some pics from this last Sunday at the SF Chinatown Flower Market Fair, as well as a visit to Edge on the Square to see their current exhibition (please note they're not normally open on Sundays). All photos are from my Nikon ZF with 40mm lens. Please view from a computer for the full experience & you can click on any image below to enlarge. 
  
 
WALKING STORIES AT EDGE ON THE SQUAREEdge on the Square is a space I wanted to check out the previous Sunday as my little cousin & I walked around Chinatown after having lunch. As the window display caught my eye, I was bummed they were closed! Thanks to their newsletter, I found out about the Chinatown flower fair & I was very happy to see they were also open. Their current exhibition, Walking Stories, is not one to miss. It is an interactive exhibition that shares the narratives of several Asian/-American artists. Check it out while it's still up & make sure to grab yourself some free zines & print media made by the artists.
The exterior window display (pictured on the left) particularly caught my eye, since it seemed very Killjoy-esque. Not her work, but a great piece nonetheless. However, I have to say the installation on reparations (pictured on the right) was my fav of all the works. Definitely grab yourself a mini-zine from the artist as well. MISC UPDATES:
Lastly, I'd like to share, like many people, I am further reducing my activity on social media. Social media is not something I've enjoyed for many years now. Just like I got off of Facebook & Tumblr, I might exit Instagram as well, but not sure yet. I will continue updating this blog & my new calendar page. I also recently started rolling out more of my video "content" on my YouTube channel — please subscribe! It's mostly just for fun, hehe. In the mean time, the best thing for you to do is sign up for my newsletter at the form below, to receive my updates in your inbox. Thanks for reading. I welcome any questions or dialogue in the comments. 🖤 |
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
February 2026
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