Xandria Moreno

Inherit and erase

Stories of my parents condensed into a drawing

“Being born and raised in Canada was essentially a blank slate for us first-generation Canadians as a result, there's been a massive disconnect between my experiences versus my parents who grew up back home in the Philippines. My piece centers around my exposure to the kind of outlook I have toward my own heritage, drawing from my parents' memories and the personal emotional connections evoked from them. I'd say the inherent nature of most of these stories is strongly negative through the influence of my dad's view on life from growing up in poverty and experiencing a constant stream of classism and injustice. But while my mom's side isn't as pessimistic, the piece's overall look is still negative as my dad holds a far more predominant and intensive reminder in my daily life.I wanted to use digital and replicate a traditional-looking medium with the intent of merging my primarycomfort of drawing medium to my standing as a first-generation Canadian, in the presence of an extremely traditional narration, similar to how my parents, mostly my mom have managed to fit into Canadian culture coming from the Philippines, but still struggling with completely adapting at the same time. Imperfect, messy, dirty and harsh, my primary objective was to recreate these experiences, condensed emotions and the cultural washing within the piece. ”