Big(ass), 2016
Sculpture
Jasmine rice, plaster

"Handa" Y+ Contemporary. Photo: Tiffany Schofield

 Big(ass) is a play on words – bigas (uncooked rice in Tagalog) and big ass. This piece speaks of insecurities behind a Filipina brown body.  Made from an actual cast of the artist’s pelvic region, a sculpture is made with rice and set in a vulnerable – but also provocative – position.  It comments on the societal pressures of Filipinas being more petit and faired skin, which clashes with Filipino food culture where big appetites are expected with rice present at almost every meal.