Bayanihan Transition 1995-96
Capp Street Project
In 1995 DIWA created a public art work and installation,Bayanihan Transition, through a grant from the Gerbode Foundation through Capp Street Project’s Art in the Urban Landscape program. This project was a multi-phased public work based on the Filipino custom of Bayanihan that represents the value of mutual support. This work used LED signage, video, and performance to tie together local Pilipino communities, past and present. This piece culminated in a Santa Cruzan procession, performance and installation in Capp Street’s gallery. In 1998 Lydia Matthews article “Camp Out, Queer Performance in the Bayanihan Spirit” written about DIWA’s Santa Cruzan performance at Capp Street Project was published by New York University’s The Drama Review.
DIWA ARTS
DIWA Arts was a Bay Area coalition of Pilipino-American Artists, video makers, educators and performers. Since 1986, DIWA (meaning ‘idea’ or spirit’) acted in a dual capacity as initiating interaction and communication within the Pilipino-American community, and as a conduit for that community to represent itself within the larger forum for cultural expression. DIWA exhibited in the Bay Area at the Mission Cultural Center, the SOMAR Gallery, New Langton Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, Capp Street Project and the Richmond Art Center. Outside of the Bay area DIWA showed at the Davis Art Center and in Canada as part of a traveling exhibition curated by the University of California at Irvine Gallery.
