HERE - Kularts

Kodakan
Pilipinos in the City
Credits, Top L-R: courtesy Dennis Calloway |Claire F. Meyler |courtesy Bernadette Borja-Sy. Bottom L-R: Wilfred Galila |courtesy Holly Calica |Claire F. Meyler
Art Direction by Wilfred Galila
Presented by Kularts in partnership with the Filipino
American Center at the San Francisco Public Library
© Kularts, Inc. 2014
www.kularts.org
415.239.0249 | [email protected]
facebook.com/kularts | @kularts
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Exhibition Prospectus
Kodakan: Pilipinos in the City
Contents
Overview
Statement from Alleluia Panis
Community Engagement Mag-Asawa - Couples
Mag-Anak - Families
Gallivanting Dandies
Mga Musikero - Musicians
Personalities
Poetry & Lyrics
Videos
About Kularts
About the Artists
Kularts Thanks our Supporters
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Kodakan displays in the atrium at the San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, 3rd floor. (Image by Claire F. Meyler)
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Overview
Kodakan, verb – the generic Pilipino term for taking
photos derived from the known camera brand Kodak.
Example: “Kodakan na! It’s picturing taking time!”
Synonym: “piktyur piktyur” or “piktyuran na”
What does it mean to be Pilipino in San Francisco? And
how do we tell our stories by posing for the camera?
Behind-the-Scenes of the “Musicians” photo shoot. (Image by Dianne Que)
Presented by Kularts in partnership with the Filipino American Center at the San Francisco Public Library,
Kodakan: Pilipinos in the City explores changing expressions of Pilipino cultural identity through the simple
act of snapshot photography. Inspired by images in the book Filipinos in San Francisco and the San Francisco
Historical Photograph Collection, lead artist Wilfred Galila with Peggy Peralta and Cece Carpio, create playful
photo homages to the vintage photos. Accompanied by videos, poetry, and interview snippets, the artists
share the varied faces and stories of the San Francisco Pilipino-American community.
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Statement from Alleluia Panis
The Pilipino American experience is as diverse as the Philippines 7,100 islands and 180 ethnic groups.
The boundaries of the Philippine nation were drawn, not along indigenous tribal lines, but in the
service of a European power. After 400 years of colonization by Spain, and then 50 years of occupation
by the United States, our identity has been obscured, not only from others but also from ourselves.
Pilipinos continue to be simultaneously visible and invisible—even though Pilipinos have lived in San
Francisco since the late 1800’s, and the Bay Area Pilipino population numbers over 460,000. Kularts
developed our Making Visible initiative to address this concern, and we are proud to see the realization
of this project with the Kodakan exhibition. We hope that the personal narratives contained in this
exhibit illuminate our past as well as our present.
Piktyur-piktyur
Every Pinoy knows the end-of-event photo ritual for family or community gatherings. Someone calls
out, ‘picture picture!’ or ‘piktyuran,’ then all attendees stand in a row—or several rows. No matter how
large the group, no matter how much time it takes, everyone must be in the picture. These recorded
images serve as a kind of photo diary where, we, the subjects are in control of how we want to be
remembered or recorded.
Culled from private family albums, many of the photographs in the 2011 Filipinos in San Francisco
book were of this sort, folks lined up after an event or in front of a building or park. It is as though the
photos are evidence of something, even if only to ourselves—evidence that we matter, that we were
there—wherever ‘there’ is. What strikes me, while leafing through the book, is that the photo subjects,
not the photographer, are the architects of their own image, performing for the camera. Perhaps,
more poignantly, these early office workers, waiters, seamstress, and farmworkers were projecting
their American dream of ease and wealth onto these photographs. In these pictures, they can dress in
impeccable suits/dresses and pose leisurely. Couples sat together in muted bliss on park benches or
stand at famous tourist destinations, as though they have all the time in the world. Young families and
friends proudly shed their provincial upbringing in the streets of a modern San Francisco, far from the
rural villages, barrios, and towns of the Philippines.
The Project
Embedded in these photographs are precious narratives relevant to us today. These questions guided
the creative process: Who are the Pilipinos of today? What are the commonalities and differences of
Pilipinos in San Francisco then and today? Do the lives of Pilipino American today reflect the hopes
and dreams of early immigrant Pilipinos? How do we honor those who came before us while revealing
ourselves for the camera?
We hope the project will empower the community to investigate and celebrate its stories, past and
present.
Mabuhay Tayong Lahat!
Alleluia Panis,
Executive & Artistic Director
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Community Engagement The Pilipino-American community’s engagement was critical to the success of the Kodakan project.
This exhibition was created as a component of our Making Visible project, an on-going campaign
designed to give visual presence and provide a voice for the Pilipino community, for both ourselves and
the general public, through participatory public arts. Several of these community-focused components
could be revived, such as:
• We hosted a “call-out” to gather personal images. In addition to bringing family photo
albums into the office, people posted photos to Kularts’ website, Facebook page, or
emailed to staff. As the exhibition travels, we can continue to use the website’s upload
feature to gather more images and stories and create an on-line gallery.
• We brought in 67 volunteers for photo sessions (of groups, families, and individuals) to
pose in modern “homages” to the vintage images and share their stories. We’d like to
encourage amateur photographers and family historians to re-create their own vintage
images and share their stories, either on the website or on Facebook.
• Film screenings and live music components added dimension to the exhibition. The
Kodakan Film #1 was screened at the Yerba Buena Night 2012, projecting the images with
live music at the crowded Jessie Square event. The exhibition opened at the SFLibrary with
a screening of the Kodakan “Personalities” video and a Q&A session. We would be happy
to help create opportunities for music, film screening, and live art activities to accompany
the show.
Left: One of the community-donated images that we were unable to include in the exhibition, but shared on-line. (Courtesy
of the Calica Family) Center: A Behind-the-scenes image shows Wilfred Galila taking picture of Aireene Espritu.(Image by
Dianne Que) Right: Musician Ron Quesada dances at the Yerba Buena Night screening of Kodakan #1 in 2012. (Image by
Claire F. Meyler)
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Exhibition Components
Mag-Asawa - Couples
Section contains:
2 panels at 32x28 inches, mounted foam-core
12 panels at 30x10 inches, mounted foam-core : Ann & Anthem series. Can be pared down for displlay.
Each couple’s story is included in accompanying text panels. An example of text is included for the Ann
& Anthem/Calloway set.
Left: Blas and Mary Calica, 1930 on Pine Street (image courtesy of the Calica Family)
Right: Richgail Enriquez and Christopher Mark Diez, 2013 (image by Peggy Peralta)
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At home in our San Francisco apartment: George Dela Rosa Calloway and Nieves Beth Buena Calloway, 1940s (image
courtesy of Rebecca Calloway Mosley)| Anthem Salgado and Ann Borja, 2013 (image by Peggy Peralta with assisstance of
Wilfred Galila)
George Dela Rosa Calloway and Nieves Beth Buena Calloway
George’s father, Sgt. Major John Calloway, was an African-American raised in eastern Tennessee. A decorated
non-commissioned officer and prominent member of the 24th Infantry of the African American Regiment of the
US Army known as “Buffalo Soldiers,” John was stationed in the Philippines in 1899 during the Spanish-American war. He was later persecuted by the US military because of a letter he wrote to a Pilipino friend, Tomas
Consumji, in which he expressed sympathy for the Pilipinos and stated his opinion that it was “an immoral war.”
He married Mamerta de la Rosa, a Filipina from Nueva Ecija. They settled in Manila with their large family.
Because his father was an American citizen, George and his family were able to come to the US as American
citizens in 1945 after the Japanese occupation in the Philippines. They landed in Newport News, Virginia on the
U.S.S. Mann. They lived with George’s sister, Elizabeth, in Chicago before they traveled by train to San Francisco. George’s wife, Nieves, worked as a seamstress for some of the big SF department stores and also had her
own shop in San Francisco.
Ann Borja
Administration at Tidemark, a technology start-up company; Photographer
“I moved with my family from Arayat, Pampanga to San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley in 1986. Our family moved
around a lot, often sharing homes with other extended families; it was one big party! I grew up with so many
Filipinos around me so it was normal and I loved it. It wasn’t until high school where the ‘cool’ kids bought
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into this idea that it was cooler to be Polynesian, Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander; it was not as ‘fobby’ or ‘fresh
off the boat.’ I didn’t care. I loved being Filipino and was very proud of it. During the day, I was exposed to so
many different societal, economical and class issues at Balboa High School. By night, I traveled back to my safe,
comfortable home in Daly City and often reflected on these two binary, conflicting worlds. Now, I’m incredibly
proud to see the huge representation of Filipinos in SF.
Anthem Salgado
Owner/ Entrepreneur, The Art of Hustle; Coach and Marketing/Strategic Consultant for small businesses and
nonprofits
“My family is originally from Cuyapo, Luzon,
then Baguio, and finally Quezon City. I had
aunts and uncles that preceded us to the US.
My immediate family immigrated to the States
in 1981 by way of Hawaii and we settled in the
suburbs of NY. I like to tell people I grew up
in New York but I became a grown up in San
Francisco. Given the relatively small population
of Filipinos in the East Coast, the Bay Area with
its diversity of art & culture, its activism, and its
sophisticated dialogues on identity and politics
is essentially where I ‘became’ Pinoy.
“When I moved to the Bay, I first landed in
Redwood City before finding a place in Upper
Haight, among my hippified artist kin. I have
since lived in several different neighborhoods,
but spent the majority of my residence in the
Western Addition, an area that is shrinking/vanishing rapidly due to a surge in gentrification.
“Somewhere in my Americanization, I adopted
(ironically) a strong sense of anti-Capitalism
which I foolishly muddied with anti-money.
It’s a plague that affects many people of color
and artists. My hope is for all of us to get the
hell out of and stay out of starving artistry. I’d
like to get back to parts of my immigrant roots,
pretend like I just got here, work hard, build
infrastructure, be shameless in my pursuit of
economic health, leave something for the next
generation, like a Manilatown, whether literal
or symbolic.
“It’s definitely pretty cool having the Filipino
representation en masse in SF today, to have
that recognition. Filipinos have a rich history in
California so I’m proud to participate in or even
just witness this legacy in continual formation.”
Top: Newlyweds Dr. Mario A. Borja M.D., and Dr. Engracia Escobar
Borja, M.D. (Grace), 1962 (image courtesy of Bernadette Borja-Sy)
Bottom: Newlyweds Jaymar Cabebe and Dianne Que, with Maid of
Honor Bien Roque, 2013 (image by Peggy Peralta & Wilfred Galila)
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Mag-Anak - Families
Section contains:
3 panels at 2x5ft, mounted foam-core
Each family’s story is included in accompanying text panels. The Calica Family’s story is included here as
an example.
Left: Calloway Family at Larkin Street and Fulton, 1950s (left to right) James Calloway, Rose Calloway, Dinah Calloway, Ruth
Aviles (Dinah Calloway’s sister) (Image courtesy of the Calloway family)
Right: Aguilar/Enriquez family, 2013 (left to right) Florante C. Aguilar, Rafael Mario Musni, Juliette Olivia Musni, Frida
Gabriela Aguilar, Fides Enriquez, and Isa Manon Musni (image by Wilfred Galila)
Left: Dr. Engracia Escobar Borja, M.D. and daughter Bernadette Borja at Playland in Ocean Beach (1969) (Image courtesy of
Bernadette Borja-Sy)
Right: Ignacio family at Playland’s Carousel, relocated to Yerba Buena Gardens (2013), Dino Ignacio, Nina De Torres Ignacio,
and daughter Maharlika Ignacio (images by Peggy Peralta)
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Left: Calica family, c 1940 (left to right) Buddy Rillera, Rudy Caluza Calica (Holly’s father), unknown girl, Blas Cacdac Calica
(Holly’s grandfather), and Ben Caluza Calica (Holly’s uncle) (image courtesy of the Calica Family)
Right: Calica Family, 2013 (left to right) Sandino Calica Napolis (Holly’s eldest son), Rubén Darío Calica Napolis (Holly’s
younger son), Amaya Tyler Napolis (daughter of Sandino), Holly Calica, and Aaliyah Sky Napolis (daughter of Ruben) (image
by Wilfred Galila)
Mag-Anak – Family
Holly Calica re-creates a photo of her father’s family, taken on the steps of their 1940s home. Our 2013 rendition takes place on the steps of her home on Belvedere Street with her sons and their daughters.
Holly Calica’s family is from Naguilian, La Union & Binmaley, Caloocan in the Philippines. Her paternal grandfather, Blas Cacdac Calica came to San Francisco in 1926. Her maternal grandfather, Marcelo Rivera Lopez, came
to Berkeley in 1923. Both men returned to the Philippines to marry, coming back to the United States with her
grandmothers—Mary Caluza and Lourdes Fernandez—in the 1930s.
Holly Calica remembers her grandparents:
“When I was a child, we would visit my grandparents & my grandfather would always ask us, ‘Who wants to
go to Playland?’ Jumping up and down we’d shout our replies. But I remember it’d be my father who would
take us to Ocean Beach and then Playland!!! Grampa Blas would take Grandma Mary to Chinatown where we’d
buy fresh fish right from the tanks. Often, we would dance for a quarter while Grandma Nora would watch us,
eyes twinkling and her cigarette hanging out of her mouth backwards. As a teenager, my Grandfather would
take us to play tennis and make us run from one side of the court to the other. My father continued this tradition with my children and often my granddaughter, Aaliyah, will run after tennis balls while her father and my
eldest daughter, Aja, rally at the local court. Times have changed. They don’t have to sneak onto the courts like
my grandparents had to. My kids can rally because the courts are no longer, ‘WHITE ONLY!’ I wonder whether
tennis will be a pastime of my grandkids’ life, too? If so, we can thank their Great Great Grampa Blas and their
Grampa Rudy.”
Holly Calica
Visual Artist; Dancer; Writer; Art Teacher, SFUSD
As a Fulbright- Hays Scholar and Teachers Fund Fellow, Holly Calica researched tribal traditions in the Philippines. Her art and poetry are published in CALYX: A Journal of Art & Literature by Women, Going Home to a
Landscape: Writings by Filipinas and “Maganda” Magazine.
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Gallivanting Dandies
Section contains:
18 panels at 30x10 inches, foam-core mounted
Accompanying text includes personal stories for select individuals. A small selection of images and
stories are included here.
All “modern homages” this section by Wilfred Galila with assistance from Cece Carpio
Portrait Studio, Lazaro Fabian and friends, c 1920 (Image
courtesy of Larry Fabian)
Modern homage: (left to right) Ladislao Arellano, Roldan
“RJ” Lozada, Arvin Munoz, and Mark Molina
Newlyweds Mary & Fred Motak Alamo Square, 1946 (Image
courtesy of the Motak Family)
Modern Homage: Orlene Carpio and Ryan Ponce
North Beach, 1970s
The Geli sisters and their family lived in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. They were popular musicians and singers in in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Pictured here are Mignon, Josephine, friend Marilyn Eng, and Maria. (Image courtesy of Mignon
Geli)
Modern Homage: (left to right) Dianne Que, Kae Hope Ranoa, Geraldine Nuvall-Weibull, and Elayne Damian
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Golden Gate Park, 1930
The fashionably attired Pablo Bautista strikes a languid pose. He sent this photograph to Cecila Salvador to convince her to marry him. It worked! They settled first in the Fillmore district, and later in the Haight-Ashbury. In
his 40 years as a busboy at the St Francis Hotel, Pablo claimed he never missed a day of work. (Image courtesy
of Kristina Bautista)
Modern homage: Sean San José
Theater Director, Intersection for the Arts; Co-founder & Artistic Director, Campo Santo; Actor; Writer
“My family is city people, Makati, Manila. My grandmother came here in the 40s. I was born in San Francisco, another port city, still a city boy. My brother and I came up in the Mission and spent time all over the city,
depending on what bakery our mom was working in. We were always between crews; Bay mixed—Mexican,
Latin, Black folks. The level of consciousness around Filipinos is crazy different now—a testament to our prominence and culture in the Bay. My elementary school did not include “boxes” for Filipinos. So it is cool to see
“Flip Pride” and all that good stuff. I love it: Tatak Filipino; DJs & dance crews; ube ice cream; retracing Jessica
Hagedorn’s writing throughout the City; getting baybayin tattoos; real deal cultural institutions like Kularts and
Bindlestiff Studio and PiNoise Pop; 6th Street; the Excelsior; and guess what? We everywhere, talaga.”
Lucky M Pool Hall, c1930-50
Located on Kearny Street across from the International Hotel, the Lucky M pool hall was a popular hang-out for Pilipino
men in Manilatown. This hall was one of the last to close for redevelopment. (Image courtesy of the Manilatown Heritage
Archive, photo by Chris Huie)
Modern homage: (left to right) Orlene Carpio, Ryan Ponce, Gregory Manalo, Jonsen Vitug, Ladislao Arellano, Roldan Lozada, Mark Molina, and Joel Merchan
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Luzon Restaurant, 1930s
From 1910 to 1950s, Kearny Street was a primary destination for new arrivals in need of housing and information about jobs. Businesses like the Luzon Restaurant, the New Luneta Café, Bataan Lunch, and the smoke shopliquor-and-sundries stores catered to Pilipino tastes and needs. Short and long-term housing was available at
the International Hotel, the St. Paul, the Temple and several SRO hotels in the area. Here, Fred Ubungen (left)
and Caroline Tormes Ubungen (center) enjoy coffee inside the Luzon Restaurant on Kearny Street with three
unidentified friends. (Image courtesy of the Ubungen Family)
Modern Homage #1: (left to right) Gregory Manalo, Geraldine Nuval-Weibull, Sean San José, Thomas
Weibull, and Joel Merchan
Modern Homage #2: (left to right) Kae Hope Ranoa, Roldan Lozada, Delina Patrice Brooks, Helen C. Roque,
and Dianne Que
Delina Patrice Brooks (center, in pink)
Poet; Actor; Dancer; Adjunct Lecturer at SFSU’s College of Ethnic Studies
“My grandmother is from Malitbog, Leyte and grandfather is from Maasin, Leyte. They came to America in the
1940s, to San Francisco in the 1950s. As a young girl of Filipino and African American descent, I received mixed
messages on what it meant to ‘pretty’ and found it difficult to identify with either message. I was seen as Black
from outsiders, but was raised by and very close to my Filipino family. Bernal Heights was highly populated
with Filipinos & African Americans, with gatherings each week where Filipinos could speak their language and
build community in a new world. It’s vastly different from today’s Bernal Heights. Sadly, it seems that Black and
Brown peoples who have built their homes and families in SF are now overlooked, excluded, and priced out.
Perhaps it is rather idealistic to hope for a suspension of race politics, but I see this as necessary for the future
of San Francisco. I see so much of this city as the product of ethnicities which have been mixed, degraded,
dehumanized, misrepresented, and are ever-evolving.”
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Mga Musikero - Musicians
Section contains:
12 panels at 30x10 inches, foam-core mounted
Accompanying text includes personal stories for select individuals. A selection of images and stories are
included here. All “modern homages” this section by Wilfred Galila with assistance from Cece Carpio
Vintage Musicians: Lorenzo and Mauricio Calica, Tino’s Barbershop, and The Intruders
Our photographers were inspired by these vintage images to gather modern San Francisco musicians for our
own portrait and jam session.
Lorenzo and Mauricio Calica (left)
Saxophonist Lorenzo Calica (left) toured the United States with his band, the Manila Serenaders. He was a musician, composer, and family man. This photograph was taken with his banjo-playing brother Mauricio Calica
on their arrival to San Francisco after gigs in Alaska and Washington State. (Image courtesy of the Calica-Zamora family)
Tino’s Barbershop (center)
The earliest wave of Filipinos, respectfully known as “the Manongs,” came to California and the West Coast
from 1906 through the 1940s. These immigrants were almost entirely young men, then-forbidden by law to
marry whites or own property. The pattern of seasonal movement from work in the fields and canneries back
to low-wage jobs in the cities during the off-season also made settling down with a family difficult. Many remained life-long bachelors, gathering at community hubs such as Tino’s Barbershop to socialize and play music.
(Image courtesy D.P. Gonzales)
The Intruders (right)
Led by Ed Valdehueza, who lived in Bernal Heights, The Intruders was the first Filipino teenage pop band in
1962. The band played for Filipino and Asian community socials in Seattle, Sacramento, and Los Angeles as well
as in the Bay Area. They disbanded in 1966. Pictured are the original members (left to right) Ben Luis, Cesar Valdehueza, Emilio Lugtu, Ronnie Belamide, and Ed Valdehueza. (Image courtesy Ed Valdehueza)
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Golda Sargento, aka Golda Supernova
Rock/Punk Musician
“My name is Golda, aka Golda Sarmiento, Golda Supernova, or Golda of ‘Golda and the Guns.’ Our sound is 3rd
World born, 1st World bred, with new wave appetites, fed on old school hair rock, perverted by punk, a lil’ bit
of funk, and completely addicted to majestic chaos. Our music is like bonfire music, lighting up the darkness
of the night. I write these songs to show my kids that this is how they can tell their stories, to tell people how
they see the world. If they can say it, if they can sing it, no matter where they are, no matter how old they are,
it’s always relevant.”
John Walter Calloway, Ph.D.
Latin-Jazz Musician; Composer; Faculty Member at SFSU; Director of Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble; Commissioner for the SF Arts Commission
John Calloway has performed with renowned jazz artists Israel Cachao Lopez, Max Roach, Omar Sosa, Max
Roach and Dizzy Gillespie. For over thirty years, he has collaborated with five-time Grammy nominee Bay Area
percussionist John Santos.
John’s family is from Quiapo and Batangas, and migrated to the US in 1945. Born in San Francisco, John is
named after his grandfather, Sgt. Major John W. Calloway a “Buffalo Soldier” of the African-American Regiment
of the US Army, who served during the Spanish-American War in the Philippines and married a Filipina.
“I grew up in the outer Mission, full of other mixed race and mixed ethnic people, and strongly blue-collar. As
a mestizo, it has been a lifelong pursuit to find a way to situate myself in the Pilipino community, which sometimes accepted me and sometimes did not. For a long time I was searching for some way to reconnect with
the music of my parents’ homeland, as my parents were both born in the Philippines. I think I subconsciously
stayed away for a long time but deep inside I always considered myself a descendant of the Philippines. Thank
God my children have a wonderful experience being raised as multi-racial and multi-ethnic.”
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Dirty Boots - Rachel Lastimosa and James Dumlao
Diwa, A Women’s Kulintang Circle (Left to right) Titania Buchholdt, Holly Calica, Patricia Aquino, Fleurdeliza
Rabara, Mylene Amoguis Cambahing
Tonilyn Sideco
Singer; Songwriter; Filmmaker; Performing Artist
Tonilyn is a native San Franciscan. “I’m really into sappy songs. I love cheesy love music. I realized that speaking, preaching, and singing about love is revolutionary in itself. I mean personal is political so if I’m singing
about love and body-loving and being queer, and all of that, then I feel it becomes political because no one
talks about it.”
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Personalities
Kodakan profiled four individuals with complex and multi-layered public personas. For each, we
created a 58x58in photo collage, printed on heavy paper. Separate text panels (600-1,000 words each)
describe their many personas in their own words. For this prospectus, we included “slices” of each
photo collage.
CAROLINE CABADING-CANLAS
“with a Malong on my shoulder”
Energy & Sustainability Program Specialist/ Graphic & Web content
developer for the Federal Government
R& B Vocalist, Addison Street Band
Percussionist & Dancer, Kapwa
Percussionist & Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble
AMMIEL ‘KOI’ HOLDER
“Fire inside my bones
And a heart built like a steel cage”
Security Guard, Chronicle Building
Bar back, End Up
Rapper/ Hip-hop Artist /Lyricist
Metal Vocalist
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JOËL ANTONIO BARRAQUIEL TAN
“seguro in spanish means surely.
seguro in tagalog means probably.”
Director of Community Engagement, Yerba Buena
Center for the Arts
“I make art and organize communities around art +
well-being + joy.
As a poet, I am a channel.
As a curator + editor, I favor toward the present
future + tend to disrupt morality + norms + formula.
As an activist, I work to end suffering.
As an intellectual, I work to end essentialism,
authenticity+ other comedies.”
American Name:
KRISTINE GLORIA SINAJON
Birth Name:
MARIAN GLORIA CRISTINA GUTIERREZ SINAJON
“Pilipino in my DNA”
R & B Singer
Catholic Cantor
Make-up Artist
Reiki Practitioner
Tango Dancer
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Poetry & Lyrics
We included 11 written works from several of our subjects: poetry, song/rap lyrics, and short prose
from Ammiel “Koi” Holder, Caroline Cabading, Kristine Sinajon, Delina Patrice Brooks, Joël Barraquiel
Tan and Anthem Salgado. All are mounted on 22x17 inch foam core panels.
Left: Bamboo & Baobab, by Delina Patrice Brooks, Right: bomba (excerpt), by Joël Barraquiel Tan (images by Claire F. Meyler)
Videos
Kodakan explores changing expressions of Pilipino cultural identity through the simple act of snapshot
photography. The Kodakan Video project has two major components: The “Dandies” video and the
“Personalities” video series.
Lead Artist Wilfred Galila, with assistance from Cece Carpio, edited together the vintage and modern
homages from our “Gallivanting Dandies” section, creating a five minute video that playfully juxtaposes
the two. In an effort to bring Filipino art and stories to the widest audience possible, this video was
screened at the 2012 Yerba Buena Night with a live music performance by Kulintronica.
View on-line at: http://vimeo.com/53042677
Kodakan explores the many “faces” of the San Francisco Pilipino community, both past and present.
But each individual also has many “faces” both literal and figurative. We profiled four individuals with
complex and multi-layered public personas. In addition to the photos, Artists Wilfred Galila and Peggy
Peralta captured video and interviews of our “Personalities,” shared in a 20-minute video.
View on-line at: http://youtu.be/fjK3W75xa8c
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About Kularts
Kularts is the nation’s premiere presenter of tribal and contemporary Pilipino arts.
Kularts informs and expands the understanding of American Pilipino culture through
works that address contemporary issues in the community; preserves the spirit and
integrity of ancient Pilipino art forms; and nurtures the artistic development of Pilipino
artists.
Since our inception in 1985, Kularts has served over one million people, both in the
US and abroad. Each year, Kularts engages 40,000 participants through a series of
participatory arts events.
KULARTS KEY PROGRAM COMPONENTS
KULARTS PRESENTS contemporary and tribal Pilipino art through works by local
American Pilipino and international Philippine artists. Kularts engages the public in
contemporary and tribal Pilipino arts and culture through full-length concerts, evenings
of shared programming, and through visual arts exhibits & installations. Annual spring
and fall seasons include: the new world aesthetics of emerging and accomplished
Pilipino Americans; artist mentorships through page-to-stage programs; transnational
performances and workshops with the Philippine Master Artists In Residency
Program; the Parol Lantern Festival & Parade; and exhibitions, art demonstrations, and
community-driven mural-arts creation.
EDUCATION ARTS PROGRAM educates diverse American communities in Pilipino
art forms and their influence on contemporary performing arts in both school and
community settings.
PHILIPPINE TRIBAL TOUR is a 2-3 week immersion tour of the Philippines’ indigenous
communities designed for U.S.-based artists.
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About the Artists
Alleluia Panis, Executive and Artistic Director, is the driving force behind Kularts, and a
respected elder artist. She has received grant awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the
National Endowment for the Arts, New Langton Arts, Brava! for Women in the Arts, the
San Francisco Arts Commission, Choreographic Fellowship from the California Arts Council,
Creative Work Fund, and The Gerbode Foundation. She has created fifteen full-length
dance theater works since 1980, which have been performed on main stages in the United
States, Europe, and Asia. Panis develops Kularts innovative programs, including the annual
showcase of contemporary works and the creation of new work by Pilipino American
artists.
Wilfred Galila is a filmmaker, cinematographer, and music maker whose narrative and
experimental films explore irony in everyday life, personal histories, and the future. His
short narrative Today Is Yesterday and Tomorrow screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific
Film Festival, the Asian Art Museum in
San Francisco, and The San Francisco
Public Library. Galila has worked as the
cinematographer for the documentaries
Secrets of a Sister for the HIV Story
Project and The Power of Two, live
performances by Capacitor Dance
Company and Zaccho Dance Theater, and
other projects. Galila is a regular artistic
collaborator with Kularts, and was the art
director and lead artist for this project,
as both photographer and videographer. Photo of Peggy Peralta and Wilfred Galila by Claire F. Meyler
Peggy Peralta, cinematographer and camera operator, is a graduate of the University of
the Philippines and obtained her MFA in Motion Pictures and Television with emphasis on
Cinematography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. An award-winning
and multi-faceted cinematographer, Peggy has collaborated on over 20 films dealing with
diverse themes and cross-cultural subjects. Her works are distinct for their heart, energy
and perspective. Awards include: 2005 Best Emerging Filmmaker, SF International Women’s
Film Festival; 2006 Best Cinematography, SF International Women’s Film Festival; 2009
Platinum Awards from AVA Awards; 2010 Silver Telly Awards + Communicator Awards for
Videography/Cinematography; 2012 Audience Award, Hawaii International Film Festival.
Her short films and full-length documentaries have screened at film festivals across the
United States and internationally. In 2008, she founded Head of the Dog Pictures, a creative
shop based in San Francisco, California. She joins Kularts for this project as collaborating
photographer and videographer.
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Kularts Thanks our Supporters
THE LIA FUND
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