North Fork Arts Projects

"Kadilian (Coral Reef)"  JUAN ELANI TULAS December 2019 - January 2020 North Fork Arts Projects is pleased to share the art of Philippine-based artist Juan Elani Tulles. He first came to our attention with lovely colorful works that he crafts by upcycling styrofoam (styropor). We are delighted to welcome four of his small artworks to North Fork. As you can see in the above shot, we chose to install his works on the floor rather than hanging on the wall. We placed them on the floor to refer to the under-the-sea/underground location of corals which inspire these works. While we show his evocations of coral reef images above, we also share them below as the artist portrayed them in his studio in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, followed by an interview conducted in English and Ilocano: (click on all images to enlarge) Eileen Tabios (ET): How did you get started with your styroart? How long have you been doing this? Juan Elani Tulas (JET): My first exposure to art...

“Why do we preserve when all are meant to fade?” MEL VERA CRUZ March 2019 Interview Between Eileen Tabios (ET) and Mel Vera Cruz (MVC) I love dwelling in the dark. I feel at home in it. It’s where I feel nurtured and protected because of its silence and emptiness. It is where all my creative juices come from. This trance is my reality and it’s where I keep my balance because everyone’s afraid of the dark. They keep on rushing to the shiny and glossy like the moth to the flame. I must stay and impregnate the abyss because it’s where all creations come from. I must honor it so I won’t burnout and not be its slave like most people seem to be. —Mel Vera Cruz on “Rice Boy’s Deity” ET: Your statement regarding “Rice Boy’s Deity” seems to summarize a fundamental belief on your part about life and art. How did you come to think this way—about the dark, and the notion of “impregnating the abyss because it’s where all creations come from”? MVC: When I was young...

"Mirror, Mirror: Reflection and Decolonization" Melinda Luisa de Jes ú s December 2018 In the Philippines and other developing countries, the skin whitening industry is prolific and expanding among native populations. However, this desire for white skin has dire health repercussions, both physical and psychological. Many researchers in the field of Filipino-American psychology attribute this desire for whiter skin to the American colonial rule of the Philippines, which began in 1898 and lasted for nearly fifty years. Historians often characterize the American occupation as cruel and demeaning, leading to colonial mentality that has continued into the post-colonial era. As a result, in order to ameliorate this dilemma, one must explore how the internalized oppression and psychological state of the Filipino people caused by America’s previous colonial rule of the Philippines contributes to the success of the Filipino skin whitening industry. —from “ Coloniali...