HIDDEN is an annual exhibition celebrating the creative work of the technical and non-academic staff at the Royal College of Art.
I continue my exploration of the meaning of family, home, internationality, diversity and global citizenship for the return of the HIDDEN exhibition 2018. Using portraits first exhibited in my first solo show in 2015 at Greenwich Theatre, I continue to explore perception and stereotypes of economic immigrants versus the [often hidden] realities of living as global families as an installation piece.
The family members portrayed range in age from their teens up to ninety years old and live all over the world. Not just in the Philippines and England where my heritage lies. The reasons for their original migrations are complex and sometimes temporary, but often permanent. Most made their original moves predominantly for an economic need to support their families.
These portraits are delicately and partially concealed by several diaphanous fabric drapings. Viewers participate in this piece by simply being present, as in life itself. This interactive and participatory work directly depends on the audience literally stepping past the hangings causing them to move and change. The breeze of passers-by directly affects the dynamics of the piece (as we do with each other in our daily lives) and as such, becoming part of, and affects this anonymous global family.
Viewers are also encouraged to reach out and brush the layers as they navigate the piece. This engagement causes the piece to move further, these subtle movements and variable translucency and fluidity symbolise the adaptability of culture and personality within a global backdrop. As well as the changing and sometimes obscure and misunderstood nature of global culture, global families and second-generation immigrant identities.
Royal College of Art, Courtyard Galleries, Darwin Building, London 15-18 November 2018
