Contemporary Filipino-American Artists of Hawai’i
June 16 through October 3, 2006

The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center is proud to present the exhibition Contemporary Filipino-American Artists of Hawai’i in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Filipino immigration to Hawai’i. In 1906 fifteen Filipino migrants came to work in the sugar cane fields, thus becoming an important part of Hawai’i’s history and contributing to its unique multi-cultural milieu. This exhibition brings together artists of Filipino descent who either currently live and work in Hawai’i or who have moved away but retain a strong connection to the Hawaiian islands.

Although there are a large number of Filipino-Americans living in the United States, they are often under-represented in the mainstream art market and in museums. Only a handful of museum exhibitions have been dedicated to the work of Filipino-Americans. This exhibition at The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center and the exhibition Alimatuan: The Emerging Artist as American Filipino, currently on view at The Contemporary Museum in Makiki Heights, present a snapshot of some of the most talented Filipino-American artists working today. TCM at FHC highlights the works of ten artists: Alicia Ajolo, Christopher Aradanas, Michael Yap Cueva, Terry Acebo Davis, Trisha Lagaso Goldberg, Aaron Padilla, Rebecca Ramos, Sean Rivera, Romolo Valencia and Charles Valoroso. Employing installation, printmaking, photography, ceramics and mixed-media, these artists address contemporary issues of gender, family history, and identity.

The works of Alicia Ajolo, Trisha Lagaso Goldberg and Terry Acebo Davis use installation to honor the past. Alicia Ajolo's Apo Lady's Tienda recreates a typical mom and pop store with fresh foods, homegrown vegetables and household goods. Ajolo uses an image of her grandmother on the front of a box of marungay leaves (a popular seasoning in Filipino cooking) which she displays on a mock grocery store shelf. The packages contain her grandmother's own recipe for chicken marungay. Trisha Lagaso Goldberg's Untitled Barong and Terno evokes traditional dress of the Philippines in garments made with black garbage bags and yellow latex rubber gloves. The majority of first generation Filipinos in Hawai’i and on the U.S. mainland are laborers. As a third generation Filipina, Goldberg was initially embarrassed by her grandmother's job as a domestic worker and her grandfather's job as a gardener, but she came to realize that the sacrifices they made as laborers paved the way for their children's success, and thereby Goldberg's own success as well. The works of Terry Acebo Davis combine history and identity. Her grandfather was a chemist for the sugar plantations in Hawai'i before moving to work on plantations in Cuba. The three retablos (altars) entitled Pau Hana or “finished working” incorporate elements relating to the sugar and pineapple plantation work, as well as symbols of ancient Hawaiian fishing nets, Western tourism, Filipino letters, and anatomical structures. These are combined in large digital prints and become “talk stories” hung from the walls in conversation with a series of cast bronze slippers.

Rebecca Ramos and Romolo Valencia incorporate a sense of place in their work. Ramos was born in Alaska and raised in Hawai’i where she enjoyed a culturally rich environment and developed a highly integrated relationship with the natural world. Her visual language incorporates images of specific Hawaiian plants that serve as symbols of place and allude to stories of belonging, personal identity, loss, and perseverance of cultural identity. Valencia grew up on Kaua’i, the son of immigrant parents who worked on a sugar plantation. Valencia's digital mixed-media prints contain photographic images of his family on Kaua’i, plantation laborers, religious iconography, and images related to memories of the artist’s service in the U.S. Army. His work addresses the connection between one’s cultural heritage, family, and spirituality.

Sean Rivera and Christopher Aradanas are photographers who use the lens to study and reflect on their own personal histories. Rivera's black and white photographs titled Family depict the artist's vacillation between shame and pride, and expressions of his sexual orientation. The photographs are layered using old family photos of both his family or that of his partner. The photos evoke family traditions that he recalls and co-opts from his partner's past. In contrast, his use of the body — his own and his partner's — reveal the person he is today. The work of Aradanas is also about identity and looking inward to discover the manifold layers of selfhood. The images in this exhibition are titled Self-Portraits and are about how Aradanas relates to his own family and upbringing.

Michael Yap Cueva and Aaron Padilla are influenced by traditional Philippine writing and characters. Cueva, a graphic designer, uses the amulet or anting-anting to create his “portable altar”. He incorporates alibata (an ancient Philippine script) into small tiles. Whether as an isolated image or within a pattern, these "amulets" can be used for bad or good. In contrast, Padilla creates his own language with hand-built ceramics by abstracting Philippine writing and combining the resulting forms with traditional Hawaiian imagery such as the taro leaf or poi pounder. The surfaces of Padilla's ceramics are carved and layered with oil paint and wax resulting in objects that are physically compelling and beautiful.

Charles Valoroso grew up on Kaua'i in the 1950s and for 30 years has been painting 1950s Hawaiian shirts and large American cars. Since moving to Alameda, California, he has been drawn to the tiki lounges, tattoo parlors, diners, and hot rods that are part of Alameda’s vintage setting. According to Valoroso, “with gentrification, these old neighborhoods are rapidly changing. The erasure of cultural identity [of the immigrant] is gradually becoming more evident in the American landscape.”

Mahalo
This exhibition is supported by First Hawaiian Bank and ResortQuest Hawaii, formerly Aston Hotels and Resorts.