Regalos

Regalos, San Francisco, California, USA, 2007, photograph, 16
		  x 20 inches / 41 x 51 cm

Regalos, San Francisco, California, USA, 2007, photograph, 16 x 20 inches / 41 x 51 cm

A photo of the boxes in their original state in San Francisco; also shipped and displayed in Manila.

Regalos is a transit-specific work (as described by scholar Eric Estuar Reyes) inspired the idea of art as a gift, the Philippines’ overseas labor force, balikbayan boxes, and the gap between intention and material. “Regalos” is Tagalog for gift.

Regalos involves the shipment of two empty, glitter-covered balikbayan boxes to Manila. In transit, the glitter eroded, suggesting a trail to home, the link between giver and recipient, or the entropy of intention.

Part of Galleon Trade, a grassroots international arts exchange that recontextualizes historic Spanish trading routes with new forms of cultural exchange.

Caption: Christine Wong Yap, Regalos, 2007, two empty glitter-covered Balikbayan boxes, transit, photograph, drawings, boxes: 18 x 18 x 18 in / 46 x 46 x 46 cm, photo: 16 x 20 in / 41 x 51 cm, drawings: 8 x 10 in / 20 x 25 cm

Thanks to Jenifer K. Wofford, Stephanie Syjuco, Green Papaya Art Projects, Norberto Pewee Roldan and Carlos Celdran.