My work as a self-taught artist often explores notions of the state of Filipino America, the effects of colonization, and the emotional constructs which we imprison ourselves. Over the past twenty years I have been working with resin and developing my own techniques. I conceptualize a piece with images found in old travel and anthropology books, which were the mass media of their time. Photography was used to help categorize, and show off America’s newest possessions and make sense of the cultural landscape of a particular era. These ethnographic images often removed the subjects of the camera from their context , and a new one was created for them. These images along with other objects and text are placed in between layers of resin over a series of several days. After completion the final assemblage is permanently cast yet changes depending upon the perspective of the viewer.

Through my work I explore the subject of the gaze of the camera and also the one that looks back, both of the subject and as myself as a descendent of these images and the cultural/racial legacies, which they helped to create. I often take them further out of their context and create whole new meanings for the same images. This depends, both on the physical construction of the pieces as well as the internal baggage we each carry in our emotional and social landscapes.

contact: jamesardena@gmail.com