Your Stories are Pin Needles
2023
Paper, graphite, charcoal, thread, needle
“It is nothing without me. Because a bullet without a body is a song without ears.”
- Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
For me, a story is nothing without a person to tell. In order for it to breathe and live, it must be passed from one to another. Sometimes, these stories bring a certain type of pain, but rather than it feeling like a bullet, it was an underlying feeling that I couldn’t explain.
It is like a pin needle. The feeling made little stabs at me overtime, and I only noticed it when the pain was almost too much to bear. However, I think this is a pain that every child has to feel. With all these pin needles, I decided to make something of it on my own.
You are not God, I am a Dragonfly
2023
Paper, colored pencil
My dad told me he used to play with dragonflies. It's a story that I have always been fond of. Dragonflies have compound eyes that can see almost every corner, except one blind spot from behind.
I am a dragonfly that thought I knew you, but ignored that the little boy is still inside.
From a Distance
2023
Paper, graphite, ink
I realized that watching your parents age is a privilege.
While drawing, I could see my dad within my Lolo, which made me emotional. Watching them grow gray hairs and develop wrinkles is a beauty that my dad unfortunately couldn’t experience. Instead, he had to watch them decay from a distance until they both passed.
Sometimes, I wish you didn’t keep that pain bottled up inside.
Daughter
2023
I have a fear of confronting stories like these. Sometimes I can’t tell if they at some point give me comfort, pain, or even both.
I need to come forward with it. I no longer want to hide from it anymore.
Okay Lang
2023
Found object, moss, paper, ink
The only villain in our story is time.
Monster
2023
Paper, graphite, ink
“To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.”
Ocean Vuong
My dad is a beacon of stories, but anger and miscommunication, from both sides, stopped me from believing that. Who am I to judge when I am only one third of my father’s life? He has memories of home he can never revisit; a place that’s far by distance and time. He is a reminder that this is an inevitable experience.
Mano Po (Drawing Portion)
2023
Graphite, frames
My Hedgehog’s Dilemma
2023
Graphite, moss
Two hedgehogs can’t bundle up together for warmth during the winter because of their spikes. As much as they want to become closer, they end up hurting each other. I felt like a dead hedgehog at the peak of me and my mom’s difficult relationship.
Untitled
2021
Graphite, moss
Mama
2021
Colored pencils, gouache, graphite, pen