Jefrë

I hated being Asian.

I was assimilating in a culture where I felt like I needed to fit in.

Like me, my brother and sister were not only the only Asians, but we were essentially the only minorities in our school or our neighborhood.

You know, we were very much raised in a community where...

you know, as immigrants, um, you have to kind of assimilate somehow.

And, and be who you're not.

Right.

In some ways.

And that was sort of very anti going to, you know, you know, Filipino festivals or all these kinds of things related to my own culture.

Um,

And in some ways, obviously, I regret it because I never talked down about it or did any.

I just didn't participate.

But coming full circle, when I started getting invited back to my homeland because of the work I was doing here, it sort of brought me to full circle.

The idea that I'm taking my education and bringing it back to my homeland.

And that's what this sculpture is about.

It's called Victor, which they named it.

Mm-hmm.

But it sort of honors the global Filipino.

The idea when a Filipino migrates to the U.S.

or Europe, they're looking for that American dream, European dream, looking for a better life.