@brekkie.rice • Dusk in the Desert, 2D Visual Art •
5 Questions:
1. The waves of imperialism have a history of moving bodies like mine into countries like this. My family’s immigration story to the U.S. is one that shares origins with so many others. My maternal great grandfather migrated from the Philippines for the opportunity to work on Hawai’i plantations and to send money back home to his wife and kids until enough money was made to bring them. My paternal great grandparents migrated to Chicago from Austria-Hungary to leave behind a country with shifting borders and impending war. My parents met in Chicago and followed the promise of labor to Arizona, where my sister and I were raised. Eventually, we found our way back to Chicago.
2. My family and I are finding our bridges. They bite so ravenously into the stories and gods of our colonizers. I try to understand that when you leave behind your community and culture and land, it leaves you starving. You pagkakamay what’s in front of you. The result is a chaos of cultures and identities that can leave one feeling fragmented. Even now, I have my feet in a blend of communities which can sometimes feel like I do not fit neatly in any. I remind this body that to take different forms does not need to mean I am nothing – that instead it can serve as proof of our boundless expansion.
3. The places I call home are the places that I feel longing for when I am not there. My heart aches for the desert I grew up in and for the family that live oceans away. I was given morsels of our traditions and history growing up but much was left unturned. Learning now is a gift to unwrap and pain to stomach. I can find belonging in the lands we’ve settled in, moved through, or left behind. I find it in the city I live in when I put my head into the lake and the water twinkles in Recognition.
4. It is easy to be swept up in the happenings of present life. When I am still I can see our roots sprawling beneath the concrete poured over what we used to know. Our true nature peeks through cracks, and eyes widen in remembering. They have done such a thorough job of making us forget who it was that uprooted us. The tugs and pulls are reconciled through connection to queer, radical pinoys and the wave of relief at the joining of brown hands. We can speak without having to preface with centuries of suffering and shoulder the weight of resistance Together.
5. It is 2026, and the waves of imperialism are swelling. The forces that have brought my family here are still pushing families from their lands and communities. It can be disheartening to watch a pattern of violence repeat and to feel its effects in your ancestry. My hope is centered around the truth that the same fight over and over is proof that they have not won.
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Bio | Art Statement
Kybo is an multimedia artist in pursuit of creation in all its many forms. They are moved to make art as a tool of transmission through paint, sculpture, drag performance, and gardening. Their art practice is an ongoing uncovering of their story and how it settles into our shared existence. They come from a lineage of artists – a family of painters, cartoonists, ceramicists, and farmers.
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