The Hiapg [Filipino wooden statues] which the central film revolves around, are located in the archives at the University of Pennsylvania, about a mile from my home in Philadelphia. They belong to an ethnographic collection that dates to the height of the American colonial project in the Philippines at the turn of the nineteenth century when a rush to study the newly colonized territory took place. They were carved by Ifugao artisans in the Cordillera mountain region and purchased around 1907. These objects have never been exhibited or interpreted since.
The narrative of the work is centered on the digitization and interpretation of the artifacts, and weaves my historical research with hypothetical storylines that speak to experiences in contemporary Filipino relationships and universal family dynamics.
Excerpt from film, 5:40
