The series "Cityscapes/Dreamscapes" was inspired by my dreams, as well as, by my reality as an immigrant.

     My dreams have always been populated by an odd mixture of people that I knew when I lived in the Philippines, and those that I know here in the US. At the same time, the places I dream of is a smooth yet confusing blend of locations that are half here, half there. With some nostalgia, I often wake up chasing after my dream.

     With these visions and emotions in mind, I have sewn together black and white photographs taken near our house in the Philippines with colored ones taken  in Brooklyn. Pairing up photographs that show similarities, contrasts and/or complementing relationships, I used the process of sewing to imply interconnections between past and present and the act of reconciling the two. In addition, I picked up patterns from the black and white print and sewed it into the colored one, further blending the two into a single narration as it is in my dreams.

     In Logs and Wires, for example, the conspicuous transplantation of the barbed wire-surrounded log is like my own transplantation, addled by struggles of trying blend in with my surroundings. In Champion Hope, billboards from a corner store promoting the cigarette brands Hope and Champion are transformed into a slogan, reminding myself of  my reason for moving to the US.

     Having lived here now for 10 years, dreaming have always served as my homecoming of sorts, confounding yet comforting.