‘Kapuluan’

A ten minute, retrospective and poetic documentary film. Exhibited in Ulster University’s Belfast School of Art’s end of year show named ‘Contemplations’, from the 7th of June to the 21st of June 2024. This film allowed me to graduate with First Class Honors. I also earned a number of awards and recognitions, which are listed at the bottom of this page.

When translated, ‘Kapuluan’ means ‘Archipelago’ in English. This film contains continuous voice-over in the language of Tagalog, questioning the connection I have to my Filipino roots and the relationship - or lack thereof - I have with my father.

I have never spoken Tagalog to this extent before, and this unsettling cultural blank is an important part of the meaning for me. The use of Gaston Bachelard's text The Poetics of Space, translated into Tagalog, furthers that 'lost in translation' aspect within, as the original text was published in French, then translated and released in English, and now I am translating some quotes into Tagalog - possibly changing the initial meaning to something entirely different.

The visuals aim to mimic thought and of memories long past, bringing to the forefront themes of family, diaspora, migration and identity.

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Kapuluan was first screened in a cinema-like room I created myself, inside Ulster University’s BSoA building, from 7th June - 21st June 2024.

Image above is the film’s title sequence.

Image to the left, shows the inside of the original screening room at Ulster University (2024).

Awards & Recognitions

  • My film won the Royal Dublin Society Members’ Art Fund Award 2024, and exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts from 22nd of November 2024 to the 18th of January 2025.

    (Link RDS Instagram and RHA specific posts)

  • I was a shortlisted artist for the Research And Development Artist Residency (2024).

  • ‘Kapuluan’ was included online in Source Magazine.

  • During the weeks leading up to the RHA opening night, myself and the nine other shortlisted artists were included in the Irish Examiner Newspaper, photographed with the artist, curator and Head of the RHA School, Colin Martin.

    (Link paper image)

  • I was included in the Paper’s annual art section focusing on people who were set to interesting things in 2025.

    (Link arts section)