The Decolonized Eye: Filipino American Art and Performance

by Sarita Echavez See

From the late 1980s to the present, artists of Filipino descent in the United States have produced a challenging and creative movement. In The Decolonized Eye , Sarita Echavez See shows how these artists have engaged with the complex aftermath of U.S. colonialism in the Philippines. Focusing on artists working in New York and California, See examines the overlapping artistic and aesthetic practices and concerns of filmmaker Angel Shaw, painter Manuel Ocampo, installation artist Paul Pfeiffer, comedian Rex Navarrete, performance artist Nicky Paraiso, and sculptor Reanne Estrada to explain the reasons for their strangely shadowy presence in American culture and scholarship. Offering an interpretation of their creations that accounts for their queer, decolonizing strategies of camp, mimesis, and humor, See reveals the conditions of possibility that constitute this contemporary archive. By analyzing art, performance, and visual culture, The Decolonized Eye illuminates the unexpected consequences of America's amnesia over its imperial history.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Asian American

232 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2009

Reviews

[Revan Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filipinos are not creative. And if they are, they are second-rate assimilationist mimics. These are the lies I believed about myself and about my people before I read this book. Sarita Echavez See gave me the tools I needed to begin decolonizing myself, my eyes, my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Lex Iglesia · Rating 5 out of 5]

a critical text for me / other FilAm artists!