Balay Kreative ARTIST Exhibition
Undiscovered SF, September 16, 12-5:30 PM
CAST Gallery
447 Minna Street, San Francisco
Free and open to the public
ART ON DISPLAY
ChiChai will be highlighting upcycled fashion design work this Undiscovered. This will range from personal projects to garments and accessories for her brand Empire in the Air, and a SF-dedicated collaboration with printmaker Alyssa Aviles. Rice bag & fabric scrap bucket hats, tote bags, and a variety of tops will be highlighted.
ChiChai frees her Pinay roots from its history of colonial oppressions through her artwork. Being raised by nourishing yet firm and powerful women, her illustrations depict elements of nature as women spirits. Through fashion design, painting and mixed media, ChiChai aims to honor indigenous craftsmanship, the matriarch that has raised her, and Mama Earth.
Cristine will be exhibiting new works created during her time at the Real Time and Space residency. Over the summer she retreated to the studio for solace and developed a breadth of work inspired by ritual, life cycles and transitions.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ChiChai
ChiChai (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and community-gatherer born and raised in Occupied Ohlone Land, also known as the Bay Area. Whether teaching or creating, ChiChai's work is intersectional in its roots to nature, feminism, and the dismantling of colonial mindsets. You can catch her teaching art and how to use art as a tool for decolonizing to youth and adults. ChiChai received her MA in International Studies from University of San Francisco (2016), in which she was awarded Most Original Thesis for her master's thesis "Challenging Filipino Colonial Mentality through Philippine Art." She has taught youth for various nonprofits throughout the Bay Area, including Destiny Arts, Galing Bata, and Youth Art Exchange.
Cristine Blanco
Cristine Blanco is an interdisciplinary artist who works in painting, sculpture and installation. Her works take environmental injustices, the precarity of resources, and lineage as her starting point. Her labor intensive practice combines material and weight to explore both tension and care.