Fiber Sculpture and Social Practice
A Ritual Healing Object Offering
Mask distribution to Filipinx museum security guards and cultural workers
March-Sept 2022 San Francisco and Los Angeles area
Who guards the guards? Cares for the caregivers and the cultural workers?
Limited artist masks distributed as ritual healing objects to Filipinx American museum guards and cultural workers. Handmade from Binakol, an authentic indigenous Philippine textile, this traditional design is believed to possess magical powers and have the ability to ward off evil spirits. Woven by Ilocano and Itneg communities in northern Luzon, the distinctive pattern called kusikos (whirlpool) creates a dizzying optical illusion meant to confuse and deter harmful spirits. Also used for boat sails, Binakol promoted good sailing by appeasing and attracting good wind spirits. These cultural badges connect their wearers to our rich Philippine heritage of caregiving, and are offered as symbolic gestures to empower and give visibility to invisible members of the artworld.
A giant mask textile sculpture anchors the social practice and performance.
