Saturday is Patricia Perez’s day off, but instead of shopping or doing other weekend chores, Perez said she wanted to take the time to browse through a new art exhibit in Evanston featuring 48 Filipino-American artists.
“I am part of this heritage,” said Perez who lives in Skokie. “I’m very proud that I am a Filipino. When people think of Asian, they think of the bigger countries like Japan, China and Korea. They don’t really think of the Philippines as bearing a lot of artists. This highlights that we do have artists.”
The exhibit titled “Sinag” – which translates as “ray of light” – is at the Evanston Art Center in the 1700 block of Central Street until May 25. It features 48 Filipino-American artists from Chicago and the suburbs with nearly 100 artworks on display, said Geraldine Martinez-Benz, the founder of Signa, a 3-year-old Filipino-American art collective with more than 60 members.
She said the exhibit is the biggest gathering of Filipino-American artists in one location in Chicagoland and celebrates Filipino heritage and honors Filipino healthcare workers against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and rise in Asian Hate Crimes.
“Filipinos were the hardest hit among the healthcare workers,” said Martinez-Benz, who has a painting in the show. “A lot of Filipinos become nurses because they want to come here to the U.S.”
Martinez-Benz explained for many Filipino nurses, their dream is to come to America and use their nursing skills.
“During the pandemic their job became a matter of life and death. A lot them died because they were in the frontlines,” she said.
The exhibit features a mix of established and emerging Filipino-American visual artists showcasing traditional and modern art styles and various media from acrylic on canvas, digital, sculptures, installations and interactive art.
“In some regard Filipinos have been here for a long time working in health care,” said Viola Mayol, one of the artists in the exhibit. “Not many people really recognize that except people who work as doctors and nurses.“
“There are many of us that come here,” she added. “Hopefully this show will help people gain some awareness and let people know we are just like everybody else.”
Martinez-Benz said many Filipinos have immigrated to America to work in healthcare over the years and that they are very proud of that tradition. But she said she hopes the art exhibit shows a side of the Filipino culture people may not be aware of.
“It’s not a bad thing that we’re mostly know as being healthcare workers,” she said. “But there’s also a different aspect of us. In the Filipinos we’re really big into art. Singing. Dancing.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
