At what point does the world unfold? (2D & 3D)

This soft sculpture and the one below are part of an ongoing series called "At what point does the world unfold?" where I create ornamented textiles in the shape and scale of neoclassical architectural elements. The first in the series was the installation I did at Cornell University in 2022.

In the series, the "ordered, symmetrical, and 'civilized'" Greco-Roman facades are transformed into sensual, colorful, ornamented, soft and porous forms. This transformation is destruction as a form of love, where the forms no longer control and tame bodies, but instead remain open and tantalizing. 

When the Philippines (my ancestral country) became a colony of the US in 1899, there was a resurgence of neoclassical architecture. As the US became an imperial power, it signaled Empire by adopting the architecture of Ancient Rome and Greece. Neoclassical architecture not only was built across the US, but also was used to restructure Manila.