In this installation, patterns from Philippine textiles are cut from transparent vinyl and layered on YBCA’s glass passageway along Mission Street. The patterns are drawn from researching textiles in the collections of the Asian Art Museum and The Global Museum at San Francisco State University while the colors are pulled from photos taken by the artist in the Philippines. The resulting image is an abstracted seascape that evokes memories of distant places and ancestry.
Viewed from inside the passageway, the elements of the work intersect with the movement of passerby in the diasporic community of SOMA Pilipinas’ Filipino Cultural Heritage District. Transparent vinyl allows light to pass through and dapple the passageway with colors and a feeling of a forest canopy. From the street, the viewer can sense the distant sunset created by layering abstracted indigenous Philippine textile patterns and vibrant colors.
Mission Street Glass Passageway, YBCA
Michael Arcega
b. 1973, Manila, Philippines
Lives and works in San Francisco
When We Weave Waves, 2024
Printed vinyl
