De(scribing) Filipinx a weaving of historical research with my personal memoirs (as a Filipinx immigrant turned 1st generation American and my mixed raced 2nd generation Filipinx- American daughter). This writing will be presented in a poly-disciplinary digital book. Screen dances, documentaries, drawings, soundscape, and photographs will be embedded after each chapter of this audio-visual book, giving a traditional static writing more interactive and engaging approach. This work started as my graduate thesis which I intend to deconstruct into an interactive zine type writing format. This project is funded by Velocity Fund Grant and Leeway Art for Social Change. Look out for more details and announcements of book release.
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Journal entry #___:
How is my 12 year old daughter, Malaya collaborating in this work? Because dance is part of my life, it has become part of her language as well. Even to this day, we finish each other’s sentences in more ways than one. When the COVID 19 pandemic started, we collaborated in making Tiktok videos which I edited together in this documentary style video, Dear USA. These are mainly YouTube videos recorded, showing the performativity of colonial narratives still perpetuating even in social and pop media.
I personally enjoyed creating the Tiktok videos because this is more familiar to her, therefore I had to do my own codeswitching to speak her language. She directed some of the shots, giving her that voice and empowerment. I am happy that this work is igniting her own reclamation, asking me to teach her Tagalog lessons or how to cook Filipino dishes.