Companions: Masmasarap Magkasama
A collaboration with Bahay215 (Nicky Uy and Omar Buenaventura)
at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadlephia, April 16 - August 13, 2022
The exhibition Companions – mas masarap magkasama, by Filipino-American visual artist Maria Dumlao in collaboration with Filipinx group Bahay215, Nicky Uy and Omar Buenaventura, explores food culture as a vehicle for the human desire for belonging and rooting into a new environment. The exhibition features a series of interactive prints and site-specific installations that open a dialogue about ecology, authorship, and cultural authenticity in today’s intertwined environments.
For centuries, cultures and communities have defined themselves through food. What that food is, in turn, is defined by the local species that live and grow there, wild and cultivated. In the Philippines, this varies between the more than 7,000 islands that make up the archipelago, but often means tropical fruits and coconut, rice, pork, and seafood—giving rise to …
EVENT PROGRAMMING
Opening and Spring Wild Food Talk
with music by Philippine Folk Arts Society Inc’s Rondalla, artist talk and foraging walk with Nicholas Tonetti and Nicky Uy
Saturday, April 16 | Free
Summer Wild Food Walk and Talk
Saturday, June 4 | 2:00–3:00 pm | Free
Learn about wild foods with environmental educator Nick Tonetti and their possible adaptation into Filipinx recipes with Bahay215’s Nicky Uy. They will discuss and sample nature’s delicious diversity. Become acquainted with mulberries, mugwort, and others known to be invasive or weeds, a grouping of plants that Dr. Jessica Hernandez, Indigenous scientist and author of “Fresh Banana Leaves,” calls our ‘displaced relatives’. As we listen, walk and share recipes on the trails and in the gallery, for laing, sabaw and other foods traditional to attendees, we will learn from our displaced relatives and each other about ways we connect to land through food. Registration is required.
Art Workshop in RGB with Maria Dumlao
Thursday, July 15 | 5:00–7:00 pm | Free; suggested donation of $5-10.
Pineapple on SPAM garnished with the colors of light red, green and blue – these are the natural and metaphorical ingredients from botany to commerce that are assembled into colorful prints by Maria Dumlao in our newest exhibition Companions. Join us for a hands-on exploration into the hidden stories of indigenousness, colonization, and food culture between the Philippines and North America by learning from the artist about her practice and experiment with colors in the gallery. We’ll be making art and tasting native ingredients from the forest. Space is limited. Registration is required.
SALAMAT PO
Generous support for this project has been provided by the Velocity Fund to Maria Dumlao, the Leeway Foundation’s Art and Change Grant to Nicky Uy, Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award in 2021 to Maria Dumlao, and in-kind repurposed materials provided by Asian Arts Initiative.