Balikbayan Bakla Maya Birds

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Balikbayan Bakla Maya 

Direct translation 'Return Back Home Queer Maya' Bird.

"Yonder", Installation "Balikbayan Bakla Maya", 

Curated by Matthew Brower and Mona Filip.

Koffler Gallery & Artscape Youngplace, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Sep-Nov 2016.

(UWAG) University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Jan 2017.

Through my process of tedious repetition of making these Mayan birds,  the major themes of time and transformation occurred to me. The feathers  of the birds are crafted from Googled gay porn images that parallel the  hyper masculine representation of sexualized homonormative bodies,  while the butterfly templates are butterflies that are indigenous to the  Philippines. This process is the same act of transformation, change and  the struggle of whitewashing my own identity. The process becomes a  personal journey beginning with my materials, especially when I start  using my own collected cut finger and toe nails that become the main  claw for these birds flying outside the Balikbayan box towards the  whitewashed cage. The birds are also trying to reclaim their own  masculinity which the butterflies inside the cage possess. David L. Eng  talks about this crucial issue in his book Racial Castration, upon the  discussion of the feminization of Asian Americans.