Kapwa
About Kapwa
Created by Philippine-American artists and collaborators Aaron Santiago and Michaela Ternasky-Holland, Kapwa, which means kindred in Tagalog, is an interrogation of cultural erasure within the global Philippine diaspora.
Kapwa is a series of video installations that trace an outline around what is missing of the history of our people. It foregrounds a sense of loss–a disconnect from our ancestry–and creates a space to explore the grief that follows.
Project Recognition
Kapwa was selected for an artist in residency at Arizona State University’s Media Immersive eXperience Center (MIX).
Artist’s Statement
Filipinos often self-identify as chameleons, blending in with our environment despite living and working across the world. Combining this with the stark lack of national history at the hands of colonization, a strong cultural identity is elusive for contemporary Filipinos. This in turn often casts us as invisible people to the wider public eye or mainstream media.
This distortion of culture bleeds into every aspect of the Philippine heritage: our languages, our food, our media, and even our self-image have adopted aspects of our geographical neighbors and dominant world powers.
Kapwa is not only a visceral representation of our struggle to understand what is truly Filipino culture but also a demonstration of the inquiry itself.
The installation uses generative AI to imagine elements of culture and history that are missing. Kapwa shows us images that feel familiar, but are ultimately false: prosthetic versions of irretrievable lost artifacts. Kapwa unites found media made by contemporary Filipinos, that we have discovered are all asking in unison: “Who are we?”
Role: Co-Creator
