Ysabel Flores Art

Born and raised in the US as a Filipino American, separated from my ancestral homeland of the Philippines, I examine what physical environments and landscapes shape, inform, and mediate my attention for my own hybrid culture and identity. My research involves visiting local trails– sometimes painting en plein air and other times taking photo documentation as reference.

Observing the greenery and unpacking the history of my surrounding American landscape guides my direction in navigating my identity of entangled cultures in the form of drawing, painting, and printmaking. My recent paintings exhibit acrylic illustrations on raw canvas where I decidedly cut, burn, or weave the fabric which allows me to interrogate traditional painting practices, transforming the basic visual plane into a sculpture or a reimagined viewfinder.

As a child of the Filipino diaspora, I borrow nostalgic memories from the photo archives of immigrant family members, channeling their experiences and oral histories into my practice to instill a deeper, more intimate sense of cultural heritage beyond mere textual descriptions of it found in textbooks. I recount the foods I grew up with in porcelain and stoneware, giving form to memory. I also use collage and weaving strategies in my ceramics to piece together fragmented histories while challenging traditional art materials and their value.