Artist Statement
Motherland
A series of three digital canvases, Motherland targets the conscience and crossroads of Filipino-Americans who often remain distanced from the roots of their motherland, the Philippines.
The images centralize Thelma Cartoneros, President of Sandigan Samahang Magsasaka, who is working for the rights of agricultural workers in Barrio Visayas and is also a mother, fighter, and community leader.
It is through the image of Thelma that one can come to understand the dire circumstances for Filipinos, especially women and mothers, in the Philippines. Students, professors, activists, and educators who attempt to do community outreach in defiance of the violence and poverty are kidnapped, tortured, killed, and disappeared. In a country where divorce is illegal and reproductive health information is scarce, women are shipped out into the global market as domestic workers, nannies, maids, brides, sex workers, strippers, and entertainers. Among all the exports of the Philippines, the most valued resource is sent elsewhere: its people.
Hundreds of dialects are spoken, although English is often promoted in the schools as a pathway to excellency. Union workers are harassed. Land is promised and then stolen from farmers. Communities are terrorized in the name of “homeland security” while the poor are left to find their own way to survival.
“Fil-Ams, do you know what’s up in the motherland?” is a wake-up call to all Filipino-Americans who remain unaware of the drying soil around the roots of our identity.
