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50 Years in Hollywood

 

I see myself as a visual hip-hop DJ, sampling obscure images and layering them over funky break beats: tattooed head-hunters, turntablists, rap stars, water buffalo and boxing champs are all thrown into the mix - a visual feast celebrating 400 years of Filipino history. The title of the show is borrowed from a Filipino expression, “300 years in a convent, 50 years in Hollywood” referring to three centuries of Spanish rule followed by five decades under U.S. administration.This series examines cultural identity, colonial baggage and a collective yearning for a lost golden age, as well as issues of globalization and the Filipino diaspora.The work is informed by a post-graffiti, comic book sensibility which was developed during my time working as an animator in Los Angeles – figuratively speaking, my 50 years in Hollywood.

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