JACLYN REYES

Bagyo

As a Bicolana American, I think of the inheritances that come from and with the lands that I am connected to—specifically my family’s origins in the “Typhoon Belt” of the Philippines, as well as the legacies of oppression that I was born into as an American. For the diasporic, home lands are complicated geographies to navigate—all operating as stages for myth. For a lot of us, to live on an island is to understand being a part of fantasy. For the island Manhattan, it is the dream of the big city life; for tropical islands like that of the Philippines, it is paradise; both, too, are sites of everyday disasters.

These projections contribute to the many disconnects between ourselves and the environments we occupy. In my own life, I observed the limits of our attention entangled with the stretches of our empathy. As Americans, oftentimes our tolerance for violence and its impacts correlates with racist structures. Beyond the US border, there is a dearth of concern or imagination regarding the roots of the same problems.

Bagyo is an exploration on the difference between admiring the problem as opposed to solving it. It is about the phenomena of living in the anthropocene, as experienced in the cycle of violence. It asks: what is freedom on an island immersed in suspended tragedy reflecting back at you?

_____

Bagyo is a virtual sculpture and space created by the artist. The video above is a recording of one viewer’s experience.

To “walk through” the virtual experience, please click here to download: Bagyo. To navigate, use: your cursor to look and the arrow keys to walk.

HOME — ARTISTS — STATEMENT — ABOUT