Snare for Birds is the collaborative research art project of Kiri Dalena, Lizza May David, and Jaclyn Reyes, curated by Marika Constantino and Iris Ferrer. It inquires into the tangents of the country’s colonial past, archiving and its impacts on being Filipina. Distinct in their visual languages and methodologies, each artist negotiates their own and the current generation’s positions against an imperial past and present as women residing in the Philippines, Germany, and the United States.
The project is seen neither as a conclusion nor culmination of the research; rather, it is perceived to be a preamble for more avenues of conversations to ensue. This exhibition takes a look at our collective history in order to deal with the present with hopes of forging a just and equitable future. The colonial past, though riddled with pain and adversity, requires persistent disruptions not only to dislocate power structures but to also re-define what is said to be truths.
Kiri Dalena
Kiri Dalena is known for works that lay bare the social inequalities and injustices that continue to persist, particularly in the Philippines. Her involvement in the struggle to uphold human rights amidst state persecution is the foundation for her practice that underscores the relevance of protest and civil disobedience in contemporary society.
Lizza May David
Lizza May David is a painter and multidisciplinary artist interested in gaps and silences in personal and collective archives and experiments with forms of activation through abstract painting. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg and at the University of the Arts Berlin and lives and works in Berlin.
Jaclyn Reyes
Jaclyn Reyes is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, cultural organizer, and emerging scholar based in New York City. She received her BFA in Photography from Syracuse University and earned her master’s degree in Arts in Education from Harvard University. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Welfare at The City University of New York Graduate Center.
Marika Constantino
Marika Constantino is an artist-curator. In 2017, she was a Global Cultural Fellow of the Institute of International Cultural Relations at the University of Edinburgh and part of a cultural leadership program at the King’s College in London. In 2018, she was a New York Fellow for the Asian Cultural Council. In 2020, Constantino established KANTINA, a space for co-learning and co-creation in Roxas City, Capiz.
This three part series, curated by Marika Constantino and Iris Ferrer, engages at the Ang Panublion Museum (Roxas City,Capiz), the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library (San Fernando, La Union) and Ateneo Art Gallery (Quezon City, Metro Manila) in succeeding iterations. Laying out in three spaces allows for wider reach and hopefully deeper understanding of the research at hand.
This project is mounted with support from the Goethe-Institut Manila, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, co-presented with The Panublion Museum (Roxas City, Capiz), Alfredo F. Tadiar Library and Puón (San Fernando, La Union), and the Ateneo Art Gallery (Metro Manila).
