Drew demeterio
@drewdrewdem“How do you say heritage in Bisaya? Kabilin?”
“Yes, but we don’t even really talk like that anymore.”
I’m proud of who I am and where I come from. I’m proud of my culture. I’m proud to be a Filipino person living in America. But I realize, as someone who grew up between cultures, I feel disconnected from my heritage. Even in our language, the past seems lost in time. As I got older, I started to search for ways to connect to my history and heritage: joining a cultural organization, researching Filipino history, looking into traditional tattooing, and reading about decolonization. Ultimately, I realized I wanted to apply my interests in Filipino culture and art to graphic design.
My thesis centers eastern practices, and more specifically Filipino practices, which are often lost and overlooked in Western design. I was inspired by my tattoo, which contains influences of traditional patterns from [XYZ- be more descriptive here?]. But what did I know about these influences? Where do they come from? Even in the Philippines, an alphabet and traditional glyphs are lost to time and the lasting effects of colonization. Where is the Filipino arts community?
In my thesis, Kabilin, I created a Filipino arts collective to gather different aspects of Filipino arts and culture, including [information shares of lost Filipino practices, finding different Filipino artists through their work and their stories, building a sense of community and identity in a cohesive brand that is to be shared.] My mission is to create a space for Filipino artists tonot only thrive, but also to find a sense of connection and community to their heritage and culture.
“Kabilin” logo 1
“Kabilin” logo 2
Traditional Filipino Pattern making experimentation