[Sampaguita] Binibining Carmela

Kiara Corales

“[Sampaguita] Binibining Carmela”

Linocut relief print, Oil-based ink on Paper

16.5" x 12"

2021

This two-block linocut print is a homage to my country’s traditional dress (one of it’s many forms), the traje de mestiza. The intensity of the carving and hand burnishing process serves as a way to explore the intricacy and laborious process of creation behind the dress.

"My practice as expressions of the hybrid sense of Self, aims to breach, enter, and create spaces for the subaltern to speak and be heard. These explorations manifest in internal dialogues through text and writing; through the authority of the spoken word and the physicality of sound; through audio visual installations that weave in and out of transitional spaces; and most recently through printed matter, hand-carved and hand-printed linocut relief prints. Implicit in my work is the performativity of inclusion/exclusion and the inherent importance of immersing ourselves in decolonial thinking. In this way my pieces are framed through the gaze of a Filipina in the diaspora reconciling with inherited histories, attempting to navigate the spaces of being in-between."