VICTORIA-RIZA HYDE Two Filipino Cooks, One American Meal (2024)

VICTORIA-RIZA HYDE
Two Filipino Cooks, One American Meal (2024)
Watercolor, wax pastels, and colored pencils on mix media paper
12.75” x 9.25”
$325

ARTIST STATEMENT:
Victoria-Riza explores the fluidity and resilience of Filipino identity amidst cultural exchange and colonial history through food illustrations. Lugaw presents a humble comfort food that, though quintessentially Filipino, is shaped by diverse influences, from Chinese congee to Arabic saffron. Lugaw invites reflection on how cultural interactions have molded even the most ‘authentic’ elements of Filipino life. In Two Filipino Cooks, One American Meal, preparing a distinctly Euro-American meal does not diminish the cooks’ Filipino identity; instead, it underscores the permeability of cultural boundaries and suggests that cultural identity is not defined by rigid categories, but by the lived experiences of individuals. This idea is also represented in Still Life of Turon, in which American and Chinese brands combine with Mexican plantains to adapt the classic fried sabe egg rolls. Together, these works highlight how Filipino American experiences thrive not despite, but because of, their constant evolution and exchange.

ARTIST BIO:
Victoria-Riza is an artist and illustrator, born in the Philippines and raised in Tennessee. With her BFA in fashion illustration, Victoria-Riza is drawn to loose and spontaneous marks. In tandem with illustration, Victoria studied intaglio printmaking, adding to her style an astute attention to detail and sensitivity to color. Together, these two art forms brought her to the mediums she works with today: printmaking papers with layers of watercolor, gouache, ink, pastels, and pencils. Her early works in fashion illustration were simply for the love of beauty and design, but evolved into seeking diverse representation when she realized she didn’t know how to draw her pango nose, though trained in drawing Euro-American features. Her journey to discover both the indigenous and colonial origins of her specific features spilled into interest in the history of Filipino food. Now Victoria-Riza explores how “borders” and “boundaries” shape cultural and ethnic identities.