PASALUBONG
February 1 - March 5, 2025
Project Space Pilipinas
Lucban, Quezon
In the process of constantly grounding oneself in the multiplicities of being, or finding center within the complexity of dispersed and transient identities, PASALUBONG offers a way of anchoring self-actualization in the perpetuity of struggle – a practice of persistent negotiation of positionality, and search for communal visions against narrow individualist desires, to once again present an ideology of wholeness that the current fragmentation of realities deeply yearn for.
Pasalubong as a gesture of thoughtfulness, a gift to bring home after a trip, carries the essence or a portion of an experience from a place visited (outside the community). Its language is that of connection, convergence and coalescence through the movement of objects and intentions. Hence, it is a salubong, or a meeting of two points, sides, spheres of life where an amalgamation of origins occur in tenderness.
This is different when cultural integrations happen by force, which does not pertain to the abrupt, unexpected changes catastrophes bring, but the exercise of hierarchies and power dynamics either through economic or political displacement.
This exhibition, through the works’ materials and processes – such as blue tarps, bottled water labels, single-use plastics, discarded packaging and shipping materials, arranged with foraged natural materials from immediate environments – embodies a diasporic vantage and motivation that problematizes, and fights for, the importance of land in the course of migration and capitalist globalization. In the heart of PASALUBONG are the values of land and life, and how these relate to development aggression, extractive economies, and the current climate crisis reflected in widespread environmental degradation alongside the erosion of ethics.
These ruminations on human ecology, and the major components of culture and ecosystems relative to adaptation and sustainability, take the form of the banig – a symbol of resilience and folk wisdom in making emergency shelters; and an object that signifies safety, temporary protection, and interminable care.
This is Carol Anne McChrystal’s gift to her Filipino roots: a presentation of patience and tenacious labor in deliberately reassembling disparate threads, and a conscious choice to represent and honor mended ruptures where seemingly insignificant parts find strength in collective interdependence.
Janine Go Dimaranan
January 29, 2025
Dolores, Quezon
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Install Views
Pasalubong #1 (Trapal)
2019~ 34" X 68"
Polyethylene Tarp, Grommets, Plastic Bag Cordage
Installed with Sand, Souvenir, Mylar Sachets, Plant, Cast Paving Stone, Collectible Coin
Pasalubong #9 (Balikbayan Labor Export)
2021
In Collaboration With Fe Pangan, Milagros Mcchrystal And Helen Manalac
~ 34" X 68"
Packing Tape, Sharpie On Cardboard, Grommets, Plastic Bag Cordage
Installed with Concrete Blocks
Pasalubong #14 (Migrante)
2024~ 34" x 68"
Deconstructed Polypropylene Bags, Grommets, Plastic Bag Cordage
Installed with Sand, Souvenir, Mylar Sachets, Plant, Cast Paving Stone, Collectible Coin
Pasalubong #13 (International Waters)
2024~ 34" X 68"
Bottled Water Labels, Archival Film, Grommets, Plastic Bag Cordage
Installed with Sand, Souvenir, Mylar Sachets, Plant, Cast Paving Stone, Collectible Coin
