Installation: Social and Economic Inequality

This installation deals with the concept of social and economic inequality which was inspired by the word “territory” and was created in 2019; I use audio, video, a projector & organic objects; plants and soil to show the juxtaposition between rich and poor communities. Although my central focus is on the Philippines; I feel like it can apply to any country dealing with these issues and can start discussion. As any installation artist, there are different components that make a piece powerful, so I’m going to go in depth to what each part means in my piece. I chose the Philippines as the central focus because I am Filipino and back in 2015 I went there for the first time and was just culture shocked. The video collage was created by a photo I took over there and at the time I did not know, it showed the division between rich and poor. As you can see, the video collage is presented on a projector and the plants block the text saying “one generation plants the tree and another gets the shade”. I purposely block the text with the garlands to represent how we are blind to these issues since I feel like my generation is too self involved and that we are not fully aware to what is happening in our own country and others. To me Garlands represent rich communities because it already has the nutritions to grow more and stay healthy. While the soil represents the poor communities/ the slums in the video. The soil has the opportunity to produce a beautiful flower that can eventually become a garland just like the slums and poor communities; they have the opportunity to grow from poverty with needed help. Another key component is the audio which is a mash up of different news sources. The overlaying audio represents how my generation takes in information for a day and hype it up but the next day we forget about it. This also represents the expression: “in one ear out the other” I want the viewers/ listeners to pay close attention to what the speaker is saying. Lastly the colors green and red gives my piece emotions. I use green because it symbolizes freshness meaning fresh opportunities, a chance to succeed and break the cycle of poverty. Where as the color red represents the life and the strength and determination for people to fight poverty.