Passage

In this series of digital paintings, I distill down the components of my upbringing within two contrasting cultures rich in folklore and storytelling, and present them symbolically in the form of my own personal folklore, one that embraces cultural assimilation and acceptance. Stylistically, I strive to maintain the balance of a child’s playful perception of the past, elements of adventure and fantasy, and the creation of a quasi-realistic environment that the viewer can explore for meaning. The sequence of paintings follows the journey of an inquisitive girl who leaves her familiar, safe home in hopes of seeing the world and experiencing what it has to offer. Along the way, she encounters strange beasts and dramatic differences in terrain and cultures. Her adventure represents my experiences growing up and learning to assimilate my family’s traditional Filipino culture and customs with the boisterous American culture into which I was born. Using digital media to paint my narrative scenes helps to convey my reinterpretation and personal synthesis of cultural history and folklore, as it takes the folk tale away from its traditional form and captures it in contemporary media. The storytelling of the past is recast in the form of digital painting. Stylistically, I combine references of Japanese emakimono narrative scrolls, the rich landscapes captured in the paintings of the Italian Renaissance, as well as contemporary video game concept art. This visual story is a hybrid of the past and the present, traditional and contemporary media, and the passages of culture and upbringing