GERALDINE RODRIGUEZ …and if God was one of us – 1 (2024)

GERALDINE RODRIGUEZ
…and if God was one of us – 1 (2024)
Photograph on lustre
24” x 20”
$1,000

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Filipinos have always been a culture where the colonized mentality has influenced who we are. Even with deep cultural history, traditions on religion are lost. Spirituality being the foundation of most people, however, our religious impression is heavily based on Catholicism. Growing up, this was the only God I knew, the institution of what is right and wrong. However, once I started exploring my own connection to God or my higher power, I discovered, my God is not the same God. “…and if God was one of us”, is an exploration of finding our own connection to God. It is finding that what is out there is bigger than all of us, that affects how we treat people. My God stems from LOVE. And if we treat people with the same favor as we treat the God of our understanding, then LOVE will always be shown to those around us.

ARTIST BIO:

Born in the Philippines and living in Germany, Nigeria, and the Caribbean gave me diverse exposure to rich cultures at an early age.  These life experiences influence me to probe into the personal relationship of what people imagine. The subject matter of her work focuses on the reflections of the self within the family and social dynamic. Her goal has always been to capture the pure essence of “self” in situations not exposed. Her subjects tend to be average to the normal eye but once photographed in their purest emotional state; her subjects can evoke a thought or emotion that is personal yet, easily identifiable to everyone. Geraldine wants her body of work to uncover facts that we all may not have the same experiences in life but we all experience the same emotions.   Her work reflects what many choose not to expose …themselves.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Inspired by the rice dispenser that lived in her maternal grandparents’ home, “Rice Box”, is a remembrance of Lola and Lolo, who gave so much and asked for so little in return. When she was a child, Kiser, and her brothers were fascinated by their grandparent’s rice box – pulling one of three levers to release rice into a lime green bucket, listening to the sound of the grains falling back onto themselves and then onto the hard plastic of the top compartment as they refilled the dispenser. A blissful loop. This piece is a scaled-up version of the original object, made soft, wearable, and interactive with upholstery foam, recycled fabric, and rice. “Rice Box” is the next iteration of Kiser’s “Mobile Home Series,” an ongoing project that reimagines childhood memories and the boxes in her life.  

ARTIST BIO:

Bella Kiser is an interdisciplinary mixed-race Filipino American artist from Chicago, IL currently based in Detroit, MI. She uses fibers, sculpture, performance, virtual reality, and sound to build her world of Soft Architecture. Her work explores topics such as identity, memory, otherness, and home. Kiser is a graduate of Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Combined Degree Program where she received a BFA in Studio Art and BS in Environmental Studies.