This Filipino Artist’s Textile And Collage Works Fight Against Oppression In The World

Aware of the contexts in which his works are produced, artist and social activist Cian Dayrit advocates for the inclusion of the narratives of underrepresented populations, playing his part as one element of a larger collective resistance. I sit down with him to discuss how he defends the rights of marginalized and disenfranchised populations.

You were born in Manila in 1989. Tell me about your parents, your childhood, if any of your family members were artists, how and when you became interested in art, and when you knew you wanted to be an artist.

A middle-class Catholic family in the city. Relatively comfortable in a relatively uncomfortable society where privilege is a currency. I don’t remember exactly how I came to be an artist. There were several factors, one of which was recognizing that art, or cultural work in a broader sense, was an opportunity to engage in direct action to learn and address the contradictions of our current social order, which of course I was yet to fully understand. I remember watching some videos of a massacre of farmers protesting in 2004. I was totally destroyed by the idea that such injustice has been happening just outside my comfortable urban bubble.

Why have you chosen to focus on notions of power and identity as represented and reproduced in monuments, museums and maps?

Growing up, I was always fascinated by how these objects and places commanded so much power by dictating how civilization is perceived. I was equally entranced and horrified by how the people who made these things could impose their perspective onto everyone else. As a response to the immediate conditions which I was slowly recognizing, I wanted to challenge the perspectives that somehow monopolized the framing of history and heritage. Activism taught me that by learning from and putting to the fore the narratives of the deliberately silenced, marginalized sectors, social justice can be realized. By subverting the language of these institutions, I felt that I was filling in the gaps and democratizing the functions of narrative.

How has the colonial history of the Philippines informed your work?

The colonial histories of the Philippines and other nations are natural departure points in discussing current struggles. Colonialism never ended; it only evolved into contemporary iterations of oppression and exploitation on several levels.

Tell me about your time spent with indigenous peoples, peasants, the urban poor and refugees, and your map-drawing workshops. What did you learn from these communities? Why are you interested in defending the marginalized and disenfranchised, particularly populations who have been dispossessed of their ancestral land?

The history of the Philippines is a history of struggle between the ruling classes and the broad masses who are marginalized and systemically oppressed. In this context, one has to take a side. By remaining neutral, you are naturally siding with the oppressive system. Peasants, workers, the urban poor and ethno-linguistic minorities all bear the brunt of centuries of abuse. We need to try to understand the structures in which culture, economics and politics function. My practice is activated by solidarity in the struggles of oppressed populations.