‘Tandang Sora Project’ honors Filipina care workers; exhibit opens Nov 17

Little Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts will present “The Tandang Sora Project Exhibition: Building Care and Public Memory” from November 17 to December 17 at the Flushing Town Hall Gallery in 137-35 Northern Boulevard, Flushing.

The exhibit is dedicated to commemorating and amplifying the history and contributions of immigrant Filipino women in care labor. It aims to build awareness and engage the public in the vision of installing a monument, the organizers said in a press statement.

According to its curatorial statement, the Tandang Sora Project is inspired by the heroine Tandang Sora, whose real name is Melchora Aquino. She is known as the “Mother of the Philippine Revolution” for taking care of hungry, sick and wounded revolutionary fighters during Spain’s colonial rule over the Philippines – a role similar to Florence Nightingale’s during the Crimean War in the 1800s. “Tandang Sora’s example and contributions are not unlike the many immigrant women who are a part of the lineage of care labor, especially in Queens, in New York City.”

Beginning in 2022, the team’s work has been oriented around community co-creation practices, including participatory research, portraiture, and art-making. Guiding questions included: How do we activate and visibilize culturally-informed methods of “care”? How do we do this in spaces and sectors they are needed, such as health and wellness, political and solidarity work, and the arts? The culmination of these efforts to collect histories, synthesize learnings, and imagine new monuments will be on display.

The project comprises artists, designers, and culture workers Maria Arenas, Princes Diane De Leon, Xenia Diente, Dennis Madamba, Jaclyn Reyes, Kimberly Tate, and Ezra Undag.

Maria Arenas is a communication designer interested in language, shared histories, research, and storytelling. She is currently a senior designer at Tandem NYC working in the spaces of civic engagement, community organizing, social and climate justice, and politics. Maria holds a BFA in communication design from Pratt Institute. She is also a Design Justice as Practice fellowship alum with Center for Urban Pedagogy. 

Princes Diane De Leon is a student at CUNY City College of New York where she is pursuing a degree in Architecture  at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. Princes is a first-generation Filipino-American and currently lives in Queens, New York. In her free time, she works part-time waiting tables and helps manage her parent’s businesses at Amazing Grace Restaurant and Amazing Grace Grocery, located in the heart of Little Manila, Queens.

Xenia Diente, a long time resident of Woodside Queens, has built her career specializing in public art for over two decades. She serves on the executive board of the Filipino American National History Society NY chapter. Xenia holds a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.  

Dennis Lapid Madamba is an illustrator, publisher, and zine maker with roots in the SF Bay Area and Minneapolis, MN, but is happy to now call Queens his home. His illustration practice is community-centered, creating art to support social justice campaigns and local organizations.  

Jaclyn Reyes, who is also the project curator,  is a visual, performing and teaching artist, designer, and cultural organizer based in New York City. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in Social Welfare at CUNY Graduate Center.

Kimberly Tate was born in Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines. She migrated with her parents Dennis and Glenda Tate in the mid-80s, assimilated in the Midwest and is now a resident of Brooklyn. She is a design faculty at Parsons School of Design at the New School and a K-12 design educator at the AIANY Center for Architecture.  

Ezra Undag is a graduate student at CUNY The City College of New York, pursuing a Master’s degree in Sustainability in the Urban Environment with a focus on waste management. Born and raised in Mindanao, he was exposed to the rich culture of the region. Ezra performed with a music ensemble, singing ethnic and classical pieces across Mindanao. He moved to the US in 2015.