As part of the UCSB MFA 2024 Thesis Exhibition, From Ground Up is an installation that questions home, belonging, and inherited knowledge. In utilizing three materials–sugar, steel, and crocheted yarn–this installation considers the body in relation to space, reflecting on the intersection of personal, familial, and historical knowledge. This body of work explores the complexities of diasporic Filipino identity through material investigation, collapsing preconceived ideas of objects and materials in space, creating a new, hybrid space. 

The complexities of identity exist in material disobedience. Sugar, steel, and crocheted yarn as materials hold the multiplicities of memory and knowledge. Stemming from inherited knowledge like craft traditions, these materials transcend categorization, addressing colonial histories while also subverting expectations through their misuse and misplacement. With the combination of these materials, memories, and modes of knowledge, From Ground Up creates a hybrid space that builds on top of learned traditions, centers selfhood and desire in the process, and creates an entirely new space.