Jewelry & Objects
Kudkuran ng Niyog
2022
Wood, acrylic paint, brass
3.5 ft L × 2.5 ft H × 2 ft W
This work reimagines the traditional Filipino coconut grater, often called a “horse” for its form, by merging it with a brightly painted rocking horse. Crafted from brass and wood, the piece blends tool and toy, tradition and play.
Adorned with Visayan-inspired patterns and two contrasting faces: fear and frustration, it reflects my experience as a Filipino-American navigating hybridity. The object becomes a metaphor for cultural negotiation and self-definition, a playful yet poignant exploration of identity between worlds.
What Happened (T)here? (Boaya)
2021
Necklace
Vacuum-formed brass and plastic colored pencil, cotton string, rice, polymer clay, acrylic paint
12” × 9”
This work reflects my experience of being caught between Filipino and American histories, stories often fragmented by colonization and distance. Growing up between both countries I was taught versions of history that felt incomplete, leaving me questioning what truly “happened there” and how it shapes who I am here.
Inspired by traditional boaya necklaces worn by Filipino headhunting warriors, I reimagine the piece with colonial symbols replacing teeth and with the ornaments inverted, their points turned inward. This gesture embodies disconnection, inherited pain, and the ongoing search to reconcile pride, loss, and belonging within the Filipino diaspora.
Bolo Lingling-O
2021
Necklace
Cast aluminum and paracord bolo
12” × 6”
This hybrid necklace merges the traditional Filipino lingling-o amulet with the Western bolo tie, embodying the tension of being Filipino-American, between East and West, masculinity and femininity, heritage and modernity.
Distorted and asymmetrical, the piece reflects my distance from ancestral roots and the struggle to reconcile cultural identity within the diaspora. The frightened Anitos within face longhorn bulls, symbols of colonization, while the heavy pendant and clashing neon cords convey the weight of history and hybridity.
Bolo Lingling-O becomes both armor and burden- a reflection on conflict, resilience and belonging.
Babayin Initials
2020
Pin
Copper and enamel
1” X 0.5” inches
This pin has my initials in Babayin, a script of the Philippines before the introduction of the Latin alphabet during the Spanish colonialization.
Wiggly person
2020
Pin
Brass and resin
1” X 0.5” inches
HOLDING THE SEED
2019
Ring
Silver
2” X 2” inches
The onyx stone sitting in the middle of the ring is representative of a seed, where two hands are caressing and protecting it. The preservation of the seed is what will give it the chance to grow once it can be planted. The seed represents a relationship, be that with a romantic partner, friend, family, and the self. We must support it with love and care in order for it to bloom.
Visayan Cuff
2019
Cuff
Copper
3” X 3” inches
Visayas is a region of the Philippines where my mother's family is from. In this region there were popular design patters that were used in textiles and tattoos. Two deigns are present on here, that of the flower, which represents the traveler, and the teeth, which represent the crocodile granting the wearer strength.