(You and I, we were Americans) until we opened our eyes
Type: Installation
Year: 2022
Media: Mixed media, variable
Dimensions: Dimensions vary with installation
Exhibition:
2023, Inaugural Exhibition, Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio, San Francisco, CA
January 29 - Ongoing
2022, APAture: Autonomy, Kearny Street Workshop, San Francisco, CA
October 8 - 30, 2022
Credits: Exhibition images by Claire S. Burke
Year: 2022
Media: Mixed media, variable
Dimensions: Dimensions vary with installation
Exhibition:
2023, Inaugural Exhibition, Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio, San Francisco, CA
January 29 - Ongoing
2022, APAture: Autonomy, Kearny Street Workshop, San Francisco, CA
October 8 - 30, 2022
Credits: Exhibition images by Claire S. Burke
(You and I, we were Americans) until we opened our eyes is a series of short films that invites us to reflect on what it means to be represented in the landscape of America and asks us to imagine an architecture defined by us.
The series situates us in Filipino-American spaces throughout San Francisco, focusing our attention towards the sky. By pointing the lens away from the edifices and landmarks, the image of these spaces are erased and displaced. The similitude of the sky before us, envelops us in a veil of invisibility challenging us to dig through the vault of our consciousness of what is there. Confronted by the truth of our memories demanding us to use our imagination to create an architecture that is representative of us. Our imagination inquires: what is it like to enter the room and feel belonging?
The title, (You and I, we were Americans) until we opened our eyes, borrowed from Ocean Vuong's novel dares us to examine the meaning and belonging of our bodies in this country. The tension of becoming American is heightened by filming the series on Fourth of July. The day is further contextualized with the granting of independence of the Philippines by the United States of America (July 4, 1946) after decades of occupation under the guise of The White Man’s Burden (Rudyard Kipling) to 'civilize' the Filipino people (later rebranded as the United States’ mission of benevolent assimilation.) What does being American mean when our bodies are not valued and seen much like the spaces and places we occupy? What can we build when we are the architects of our narratives and spaces?
The series situates us in Filipino-American spaces throughout San Francisco, focusing our attention towards the sky. By pointing the lens away from the edifices and landmarks, the image of these spaces are erased and displaced. The similitude of the sky before us, envelops us in a veil of invisibility challenging us to dig through the vault of our consciousness of what is there. Confronted by the truth of our memories demanding us to use our imagination to create an architecture that is representative of us. Our imagination inquires: what is it like to enter the room and feel belonging?
The title, (You and I, we were Americans) until we opened our eyes, borrowed from Ocean Vuong's novel dares us to examine the meaning and belonging of our bodies in this country. The tension of becoming American is heightened by filming the series on Fourth of July. The day is further contextualized with the granting of independence of the Philippines by the United States of America (July 4, 1946) after decades of occupation under the guise of The White Man’s Burden (Rudyard Kipling) to 'civilize' the Filipino people (later rebranded as the United States’ mission of benevolent assimilation.) What does being American mean when our bodies are not valued and seen much like the spaces and places we occupy? What can we build when we are the architects of our narratives and spaces?
