Once a predominantly white West Coast Levittown sharing a border with San Francisco, my hometown of Daly City has become the home to one of the densest populations of Filipinos outside of the Philippines. However, while my community has been setting down roots for decades-- even becoming the largest ethnic group in the city-- the existence of this enclave still largely goes unnoticed. Furthermore, residents of the city are experiencing shifts that come as a product of the Bay Area’s rapid economic growth, intensifying concerns regarding the Filipino American community’s long term sustainability.
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The photographs I make engage in discovery through the everyday and mundane, exploring (often subtle) indicators of a particular ethnic presence while simultaneously reflecting on an era that is at the crux of my family’s identity. I’m especially interested in peeling back the layers of a landscape that harbors tensions between suburban American ideals and transnational identity, its collision with gentrification, and the fluid culture produced by my community through this complex relationship.