Woven Sculpture
Installations & Public Art
Design Objects
Studio
Information
Contact
Client Work
Collect
(The Painted Ones)
Paint
120’ x 42’
2027 (Forthcoming)
Commission for 967 Mission St & The John Stewart Co
When Ferdinand Magellan arrived on the shores of Homonhon Island in the Eastern Visayas, on March 17, 1521, the Spanish encountered native peoples whose bodies were adorned with intricate tattoos. Mistaking them for painted skin, they called them Pintados—the Painted Ones. Infact before the archipelago was re-named the Philippines, the Spanish originally called the archipelago “Island of the Painted Ones” because of the unique tattooing they saw.
Titled, Pintados (The Painted Ones), my public art proposal for 967 Mission tells the story of tatak—also known as batok or batek—a rich yet often overlooked Filipino cultural practice that predates colonial contact. Drawing upon my heritage, the work reinterprets this sacred system of markings, where tattoos communicated ones’ achievement, lineage, social standing, wisdom and spiritual protection.
Inspired by the visual language of tatak, I translate a constellation of symbols from diverse regional tattooing traditions across the Philippine archipelago into a tapestry-like mural composition. Together, these symbols tell a story of elders and ancestors—the wisdom they carry, the maturity they embody, and the knowledge passed from one generation to the next. With this public artwork, I seek to honor the elders of 967 Mission, of the SOMA neighborhood, while uplifting and celebrating an extraordinary yet little-known Indigenous Filipino cultural practice. In doing so, Pintados celebrates aging not as decline, but as a living archive of resilience, dignity, cultural memory, and the enduring value of lives richly lived.