Painting

Title: "Kamayan" (2022)

Style: 30" x 24" acrylic on board 

Inspiration: A capture of my Filipino-American family having a birthday dinner for my father and tita. This was my first time experiencing a Kamayan dinner, where everyone eats with their hands. The meal typically consists of rice and colorful dishes presented on banana leaves.

This piece received a National Gold Medal through The National Scholastics Arts and Writing Awards while I was a teenager at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.

Title: "Special Processed American Me" (2022)

Style: 30 x 24" acrylic on canvas

Inspiration: A piece exploring the prominence of SPAM in Filipino and Hawaiian culture. Plus, I love SPAM.

Title: "Abstrakt Food Truck" (20XX)

Style: 30 x 24" acrylic on canvas

Inspiration: A piece dedicated to the origins of the Abstrakt Filipino Restaurant, which was once a food truck. It's currently on display in the restaurant, featured in many of their Instagram posts with several Jacksonville leaders, including former Mayor Curtis Ford.

Its signatures even include David Garrad (former Jaguars quarterback), Roy Robertson-Harris (former Jax Jaguars Captain, later traded to the Seahawks), and Jaguars Coach Liam Coen.

Title: "The Delano Manongs" (2022)

Style: 24 x 24" acrylic on canvas

Inspiration: This piece was a commission I did. Prior to creating this, I had no knowledge of the history regarding the main figure featured. Through a documentary, I learned about the story of farm labor organizer Larry Itliong and a group of Filipino farm workers who instigated the Delano Grape Strike of 1965 which brought about the creation of the United Farm Workers Union.

During the last part of the painting process, I remembered a small detail from the documentary: Larry Itliong only had seven fingers due to an accident in an Alaskan cannery. I did end up reflecting this detail in the final piece but in the earlier drafts, you can see him with all ten digits.

Title: "Family Dinner" (2022)

Style: Acrylic on paper

Inspiration: A precursor to Kamayan, this piece was also inspired by family dinner.