BUMUO: Rebuilding the Filipino Body
June 29 — July 27, 2024
Opening Night:
Saturday, June 29 at 7:00pm
bumuô (Tagalog, v.): to put together
derived from the root word buo (adj.) which means “whole”
After enduring almost 400 years of colonization under Spain and subsequently the United States, what does being “whole” mean for a 7,600-island archipelago; a tenth of our people untethered from our land and scattered across the entire globe?
Through BUMUO: Rebuilding the Filipino Body, six artists come together and chart a path between the still-red scars of our history to honor our persistent resistance and envision a healed future as kapwa. This multimedia exhibit presents a progressive exploration of the truths we must amplify, the manipulations we must reject, and how the individual empowers the collective through new bodies of work from Filipino artists Himaya, Intel Lastierre, Joi Conti, Lee Paje, Ms Cashmere, and PJ Raval.
Supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department, BUMUO: Rebuilding the Filipino Body is forth space productions’ inaugural arts project and serves as founder Regine Malibiran’s curatorial debut. The exhibit will open in collaboration with Pinoy Potluck at MASS Gallery on June 29, 2024 from 7-10pm and run until July 27, 2024.
The opening reception will feature a lounge and photo booth provided by our friends at Party at the Moontower, beats by Flobama, and of course, a whole lechon. Dust off your barong or favorite tropical wear, bring your community, and join us for an evening of art, food, and solidarity.
Himaya
Himaya, a persona crafted by the artist herself as a medium to deal with tumultuous times. Originally trained as a physician, she redirected her focus entirely to art after the pandemic reshaped her perspective. Drawing inspiration from nature, human emotions, and culture, Himaya's work explores identity, heritage, and cultural contradictions. Her vibrant use of color and organic forms serves as a form of storytelling, each piece oscillating between the familiar and the vague, urging viewers to ponder the complexities of existence. With vibrant watercolors, intricate digital illustrations, and soul-stirring mixed media, each creation reflects her inner world, inviting viewers on a journey of discovery.
himayastudios.co • @himaya_studios
Intel Lastierre
Intel Lastierre (b.1989) is a multimedia artist whose work challenges the selective malleability of justice through oil painting, installations, and photography. Lastierre interprets folklore, mythology, and the dynamic between predator and prey to chronicle human rights issues from the perspective of a Filipino woman who has lived under government censorship and imperial exploitation. By twisting biomorphic forms and juxtaposing the grotesque with the beautiful, Lastierre strives to subvert structures of power, mirroring depictions of a dystopian present with the potential of a utopian future.
Born in Silay City, Philippines and living and creating in San Marcos, Texas, Lastierre has studied architecture, engineering, and art history and graduated in photography from De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde in Manila. She is the co-founder of the House of Frida Gallery in Bacolod and has exhibited work in Manila, Bacolod, Cebu, San Marcos, and Austin
intel-lastierre.art • @intellastierrre.art
Joi Conti
Joi Conti is a Filipino-American professional photographer based in Austin, Texas. She holds a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, a school renowned for its photography program and has valuable experience working for top editorial, fashion, and still life photographers in New York City.
In her adopted hometown of Austin, Conti has photographed local fixtures like Austin Woman magazine and The Foundation for the Preservation of the Historic Millett Opera. She has produced and photographed for numerous local brands like BOXT, Solid Soaps, Choucre, and B.D.F.O.
Her work has been showcased in exhibitions like Open House (2022), Realms of Fungi (2023), and Perlas ng Austin: A Celebration of the Central Texas Filipino Community through the Arts (2023). She actively contributes to local communities, including the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce (GAACC), Austin Business Woman, and Filipino Young Professionals. Conti is also a grant recipient of the 2022 Project Rebuild Small Business Grant, which helped her create, produce, and photograph TAYO NA, a magazine dedicated to highlighting Austin Filipino artists and makers.
Joi’s mission as a photographer is to ensure that every living being feels seen and heard. As a visual storyteller, she captures movement, emotions, and vibrant energy that are rooted in the earth and tethered to dreamland. Conti’s work stands out for its authenticity and ability to tell compelling stories through captivating imagery.
Lee Paje
Lee Paje is a versatile artist engaging in different mediums and techniques such as painting on copper, sculpture, printmaking, video, and installations to create works concerned with independence, individuality, and identities. Her visual narratives reveal alternative realities that bring attention to the restraints of gender inequality. She intertwines contemporary lifestyles with the rigidity of past traditions. Once revealed, her compositions are filled with seemingly personal anecdotes yet actually extend to social, cultural, and historical commentary.
Lee graduated magna cum laude in studio arts from the College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines Diliman. Her undergraduate video work, Sit In My Retina, won the college’s Dominador Castañeda Award for Most Outstanding Thesis (2009). In 2018, her entry 'Passage to the Land of Sugar' for the Don Papa Rum art competition won the Grand Prize and People's Choice Award. In 2021, her large-scale works were exhibited in QAGOMA, Australia as part of the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Her artistic journey includes notable residencies, such as the Pazifik-Leipzig artist residency supported by Goethe-Institut in Germany (2022) and the Art Omi artist residency in New York (2018). She has exhibited widely in the Philippines and internationally.
Ms Cashmere
Ms Cashmere is a Filipino/Vietnamese/Chinese-American artist working with many forms of mixed media including installation, collage, textile, music making, and collaboration through community archival work. Mixed media presents a tangible parallel to reflect the nuanced existence of mixed lived experiences including identity and spirituality.
Her works centers themes of love, healing, and transcendence and is rooted in the belief that every individual can heal the world through first healing themselves and extending vulnerability to empower others.
givemecashmere.com • @givemecashmere
PJ Raval
PJ Raval is a queer, first generation Filipinx American filmmaker whose work examines social justice issues through the voices of queer and marginalized subjects. Named one of Out Magazine's 'OUT 100′, PJ's body of work has appeared on PBS, Netflix, Hulu, Discovery and Showtime. His documentary CALL HER GANDA delves into the tragic murder of transpinay Jennifer Laude by a U.S. Marine. Airing on PBS (POV) in 2019, CALL HER GANDA earned a Philippines Academy Award Best Documentary nomination and spearheaded an extensive 150+ community screening impact campaign including a closed door meeting with the US State Department. PJ’s recent film, WHO WE BECOME, is a coming of age documentary following three Filipino American women in Texas during the COVID pandemic. The film is distributed by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing and currently streaming on Netflix.
PJ is an Associate Professor of Film at the University of Texas at Austin and is a co-founder of the NEA supported queer arts organization OUTsider. He serves on the steering committee of the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) and is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2021 Soros Justice Fellow, 2024 USA Artist Fellow, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.