My art has always been heavily influenced by my Filipino culture and how our identity is shaped by our past experiences. I believe individuals are walking reflections of their history, struggle, and accomplishments. This is why I’ve chosen to focus on humans, specifically the Filipino individuals, as the subject matter of all my explorations. My theme is based on the traits or mindsets that limit our cultural growth, as individuals, and as a country. I tackle aspects of recurring age-old societal issues and traditions that I’ve experienced growing up in the Philippines. These include crab mentality, colonial mentality, forgotten roots, silencing of generations, beauty, technology, and discouraging art as a career path. Each of these subthemes corresponds to a certain artwork in my exhibit.

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The title of the exhibit, "Sentience", refers to one’s depth of awareness. This encapsulates my goal to create a feeling within anyone browsing through the exhibit wherein they are able to relate to the messages discussed and think critically to see how these affect their own lives. This was important to me as I curated my concepts. I wanted to create an atmosphere that overwhelmed the audience and urged them to think deeper into their identity to see how these cultural mindsets have been “normalized” by society and how we’ve become numb to our own problems. This feeling of deeper contemplation will create a link between each of the artworks.

Overall, the appearance of the exhibit is minimalistic and sophisticated. The white walls and windows brighten up the area and draw attention to the bold red elements. The artworks are also placed at eye-level to easily direct the gaze of the audience towards the pieces and help them progress through the exhibit at ease. There is an irony in the appearance of the works because they appear simple and elegant, yet convey such deep messages. 

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