Lines of Lila

A piece I made as a tribute to all nonhuman animals that had lost their lives in the hands of the animal agribusiness, In a Better Place is a culmination of all my projects highlighting the animal rights movement last year.

We always imagine animals crossing the rainbow bridge at their time of passing and by then we knew that their suffering was over. But not for those who were left behind awaiting this gradual transition into genuine change, the paradigm shift.

A personal favorite of mine, Hope for the Animals depicts my vision for animal emancipation. It embodies all that I have longed for since transitioning to veganism some ten years ago. I'm certain that my fellow vegan advocates feel the same way, too.

The horrific conditions of nonhuman animals, especially in the food industry, are unimaginable. Not only do they suffer in the physical sense, but the psychological torment they had to endure is simply unforgivable. Humans just numb themselves from the fact that these animals are sentient and very much aware of what is being done to them- and yes, even those who were allegedly "humanely slaughtered".

Basically just as the rest of my marine animals and fish series depicts on exploitation in animal trade, Commodified is an overall view on the exploitation of animals by the animal agribusiness. I was rooting for a more symbolic approach but decided to keep the figures in the middle ground and add a little bit more clarity to my own interpretation.

The exploitation of marine animals not only endangers their lives but also their home. The Earth is on the brink of mass extinction and it is imperative that we double our efforts to bring awareness and make daily changes to help save our ocean and its inhabitants.

I have always wanted to create warm colored artworks. It's probably already obvious that I love pastel colors but achieving warmth with depth is a challenge for me. With Less Loved I was able to explore the depths of the ocean, like taking a death dive into the heart of the most vulnerable and least regarded parts of the waters.

It is sadly how humans treat fish as compared with the rest of the animal world. Besides insects and reptiles, fish and marine animals are often looked over, even within the animal welfare community. I'm hoping to contribute to changing this view through my art.

My family used to have an aquarium with goldfish and turtles. Even though I wasn't yet well-informed about animal rights back then, I've always pondered on the idea of keeping fish in a very limiting space such as an aquarium.

Not Your Toy addresses these thoughts. As the horrific practices of animal and pet trade unravel before my eyes, I often look back to those times and felt remorse about how I have naively contributed to such atrocities towards one of the most beautiful yet vulnerable animals on the planet.

"Remembering Alf" is a scribble art inspired by Alf, my cat who passed away two years ago. Alf's from-feral-to-family adventure started back in 2012 when I took him in as a kitten and named him Bayn Alfardo "Alf" P. Therpell.

Alf, a less than a month old tuxedo kitten, was sick and crying for his mother. The building caretaker must have known that I was adopting animals and carried him up the ninth floor for me to discover. After a couple of months of quarantine and medication, he finally recovered and was ready to face the world at 5 months old.

It was a whole memorable six years with him despite all the challenges we've gone through together, along with the other animals I had adopted. We lived in a hostile neighborhood, endured personal predicaments and put up against animal abusers. I knew that with his frail body and many health complications, a time would come when I would have to bid him farewell. It was far from easy. I still miss him to this day.