Pilgrimage: Remote Animism & Ornamental Displacements forms part of a continuing series from the collaborative practice of husband and wife artists, Miguel Aquilizan & Jessica Dorizac. In their life and work they navigate through culture, colonization, history, geography, folklore and faith as contemporary Australian Filipinos.
In the Pilgrimage series, they explore the interconnected themes of identity, globalisation, culture, colonization and resistance through a playful sculptural installation. Located in The Condensery’s Bomb Shelter, this iteration is a new body of work produced in Australia, since Miguel Aquilizan & Jessica Dorizac have returned from practicing in the Philippines.
In Pilgrimage: Remote Animisim & Ornamental Displacements, the sculptures fragment and rebuild themselves, making possible the reimagining and re-enchantment of the world around us, during a time of ecological emergency and political confusion.
Connecting to the history of The Condensery’s Bomb Shelter as a place designed to protect and store information, Pilgrimage: Remote Animism & Ornamental Displacements is a repository for the experiences and speculations of two Filipino Australian artists sharing a life together.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Juan Miguel Aquilizan lives and works in between Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines at the Fruit Juice Factori and Meanjin/Brisbane Australia. M Aquilizan explores aspects of society and history, specifically spirituality, through poetic narratives that are assembled, scavenged or found. Challenging cultural memory and interrogating notions of cultural displacement and ambiguity due to globalisation, migration and colonialism. For Aquilizan, second hand objects function as ‘societal heirlooms’.
Jessica Dorizac is an artist whose work is currently informed by play and the language of shape, pattern, ornament and design. She investigates perceptions of place, time and identity, through materials and processes of handicrafts, trades and traditions. Dorizac reflects and draws from personal and collective narratives to navigate her Filipino heritage. Dorizac is a member of the Queensland Bookbinders Guild and is currently living and working in between Queensland, Australia and Laguna, Philippines.
IMAGE: MIGUEL AQUILIZAN & JESSICA DORIZAC, PILGRIMAGE: REMOTE ANIMISM & ORNAMENTAL DISPLACEMENTS (DETAIL), 2024.
