During the fall of 2023 my family and I returned to the Philippines. This was the first time since I was a baby that I have visited the Philippines, making the experience essentially my first time visiting. 

Growing up homeschooled in a small town in Illinois close to Wisconsin; there was not much of an asian community for my sister and I to connect to — even once enrolled in public education that connection was hard to find. 
Through my mother, we engaged with that side of our heritage as well as visits from my family located in Canada and through online video calls with my family in the Philippines. 

During my second year of university, at the age of nineteen years old, my mother and I planned a trip to visit my family and reunite with my sister, who was studying abroad in Japan, in Manilla. 

Beyond the cultural significance visiting had, the importance of the reunion of my family became the focus of the visit, allowing for myself to meet my younger cousins for the first time. An urgency to visit also came alongside the state of health my Grandmother was in as her memory continued deteriorate in relation to Alzheimers. 

The project photographed focuses on the relationships built on motherhood, the role of time, space, health, memory and the separation of continents from culture and family interact when finally assembled.

Images from the project have featured in:  Krannert Art Museum — BFA 2025 Exhibition, Flagg Hall — Journal of James P. Hoeck Solo Exhibition, and the University of Illinois School of Art & Design — Faculty, Staff, & Student Awards pamphlet.