By Dyan Ruiz

A Social Weather Stations survey in the Philippines reported that 92 percent of Filipinos are entering 2013 with hope rather than with fear. This prompted The Philippine Reporter to ask a small sample of Filipino-Canadians in the GTA the same thing. Are they hopeful for 2013? Why do you think such a large percentage of Filipinos said they were hopeful?

Here’s a sampling of the responses of Filipino-Canadians from all walks of life.

“There is a palpable sense of optimism in the Philippines at the start of 2013.  The economy grew by 7.1%, the stock market is doing very well and is breaking records…

 I am very hopeful for Filipino-Canadians in 2013 for the following reasons:

1. Both Canada and the Philippines are doing quite well economically and both agree to nurture bilateral relations to new heights…

4.  Given the access to opportunities here in Canada, Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians are beginning to enhance their standing, in terms of financial stability and political clout.

5. The contributions of Filipino-Canadians to the vibrancy of Canadian society is likewise getting recognition — recently, almost 30 Filipino-Canadians were awarded the queen’s diamond jubilee medal.

6. The older generation of Filipino-Canadians are very conscious of the need to impart to the younger generation the richness of their Filipino heritage and are therefore very active in organizing community events that highlight Philippine history and culture. This is another catalyst to promote the community’s well-being and to foster better Philippine Canadian bilateral relations…” – Junever M. Mahilum-West, Philippine Consul General for Toronto

“For the immigration, especially for the caregivers, I hope that there will be changes. But I do hope that the changes will be for a better situation for caregivers in the Live-in Caregiver Program. The live-in situation, it is not a favorable situation for any caregiver.

…For new immigrants I hope they will be able to land in their own profession, in the profession they aspire to be.” - Flor Dandal, Executive Director, Kababayan Community Centre

“I am very hopeful for 2013. I am looking forward to the upcoming midterm elections in the Philippines, which should demonstrate a promising boost to democracy and the overall political and economic direction in the country. Given the deaths and destructions from the calamities this past year, it is my hope that 2013 can bring more joy, peace, and prosperity to Filipinos.

For Filipinos in Canada, I would like to see improvements in their economic, family, and overall wellbeing. In particular, temporary foreign workers ought to be given permanent residency immediately; the family reunification program ought to be fully re-established; and more governmental and financial support ought to be given to programs that assist Filipino Canadian seniors and youth.” – Roland Sintos Coloma, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

“It’s in the culture. We usually think positively. We really think there’s hope.

I’m definitely hopeful for 2013. You just try to think positive and take away all the negative things with all the crises and everything that is happening. I guess you really have to be optimistic.

I hope for a better future, especially for my children. That’s why I’m here, working away from them, so it’s all for them. – Princess Sopoco, Nurse and Caregiver

“I think Filipinos are hopeful because they are with their families and they’re content with their lives there instead of looking for something else greater. And I think that having a big family with them all the time, for good or for bad and their condition, they’re with them.

I’m hopeful because I think I’m going pass all my courses this year and I think I’m going to have a good year with me family.” – Rhoda Marie Olazo, George Brown College student

“I guess I’m hopeful for 2013 because I came here for education to have a great future… I hope I get in to a good university… I want to become a vet.” – Melissa Grace Olazo, high school student

“I think Filipinos are hopeful because they work really hard and they try really hard for themselves and their family…

Yes, I am hopeful and I hope that graduate high school and go to a really nice university and be successful in life.”- Mikee Olazo, high school student

“We’re just a happy race. Perhaps we were born with more Dopamine maybe lol. I think the biggest reason is the family support, we’re a culture known for that and it’s easier to tackle issues or challenges when you have a good support system and encouragement.

I am hopeful … Hopes include continued professional success, better health less rice lol… constant learning and reading… always be there for fam and friends.” – Richard Silang, Business Development

“There is also a section of our kababayans in the Philippines who are hopeful because they still believe that the upcoming May 2013 elections will have politicians that will serve them and their interests being the citizens of the Philippines…

For 2013, I still remain hopeful that the Philippines will see justice… it hurts me that my kababayans are still struggling to make ends meet, and their basic social services are still not being met, and this is a violation of their rights to live … hopefully one day, justice will be served to the marginalized and under-represented.” – Rhea A. Gamana, Chairperson, Anakbayan Toronto

“I am hopeful in a specific sense. I am hopeful that people are slowly waking up to the realization to the need for change, real change, societal change. And that for this to truly happen, that we need to organize, that we need to stand together.

For the BAYAN network, and Anakbayan-Toronto in particular … I feel great optimism that 2013 will see even greater expansion, strengthening, and with that the greater ability to fight the good fight.” Alex Felipe, BAYAN-Canada, Toronto spokesperson, Anakbayan-Toronto organizer

*The responses have been condensed and edited.

Eric Baculinao: From student visitor to NBC NEWS Beijing Bureau Chief
By Dyan Ruiz

Law student Eric Baculinao visited China in 1971 and soon discovered that returning to the Philippines would mean his arrest.

This twist of fate would result in his living through Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution in a long road that led to becoming the NBC News Bureau Chief for Beijing.

“We left hoping that we would be there for only three weeks. Instead, well for me, it’s been 41 years now,” Baculinao said to more than a dozen members of a private audience in Toronto on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at the SEAS-Centre on Gerard Street.

The Chinese government was opening up its diplomatic relations and invited university students from the Philippines to visit.

The Philippine President was Ferdinand Marcos. Shortly after the students arrive in China, Marcos suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. The government could arrest anyone it deemed a threat without bringing them to court.

The students were blacklisted for being leaders in the student revolt against the Marcos regime. And so they stayed and they waited.

“China then and now are almost two worlds apart,” Baculinao said of the largely rural, impoverished country at the time he arrived.

A year passed and the situation in the Philippines worsened. In 1972, Marcos declared Martial Law and their passports would eventually expire, and in 1974 it began to sink in that the students were stuck indefinitely.

They began learning Mandarin and volunteered to go to the countryside like the millions of educated Chinese youth who were sent to work and learn from the peasant farmers as part of Chairman Mao’s vision of an egalitarian society.

Despite their laboring, unlike the Chinese, the Filipino students “were not treated as workers, they were treated as guests,” Baculinao said to the group about their years during the Cultural Revolution. They said the Chinese government paid for all their expenses including their stay in a guesthouse, complete with their own cook.

Those years also included experiencing life on a fishing boat, which they requested because “they were craving seafood,” Baculinao said with a laugh. When the universities reopened in 1975, they studied Chinese language and culture.

In the mid-1980s, after Chairman Mao had died and China began opening up to foreign companies, Baculinao and other students who were part of the group, Jaime FlorCruz and Chito Sta. Romana, began to freelance for American media companies.

At the time, there were no office buildings for the companies to base themselves in. The journalists worked in hotels and like the millions of others in socialist China, were allocated ration cards for food.

The decades of immersion in Chinese culture would prove to be the foundations for successful careers as journalists for the three men, who became nicknamed the “Pinoy Gang of 3.” FlorCruz, who spoke to the PPCO in Toronto in Aug. 2010, would go on to head CNN’s Beijing Bureau. Sta. Romana was his counterpart for ABC. Baculinao became NBC’s Beijing Bureau Chief, his current position.

By 1986, when President Corazon Aquino and the People Power Movement finally ousted Marcos from the clutches of his dictatorship in the Philippines, Baculinao was already working for NBC.

“The attraction of observing history in the making,” Baculinao said, “was too tempting,” and despite finally having an option to return to the Philippines with a new passport, he stayed to work as a journalist in China.

The Filipino nationals would go on to cover the major events of modern day China, including the Tienanmen Square massacre, a topic that journalists still need to avoid.

“We operate in a system of regulations that maintains the ability of China to keep control of how information and news can impact social stability in the country,” Bacaulinao said in an interview.

The restrictions on foreign media have largely loosened over the years, especially since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bacaulinao recalls that in the 1980s, it was very difficult to get a permit to travel to different parts of the country and the areas that were allowed were very few.

The rules for journalists and their stories remain stringent, especially when it comes to sensitive issues and areas, such as Tibet and Taiwan. For instance, when protests in Tibet erupt, it is very difficult to get a travel permit.

Since the government is not a democracy, officials immediately suppress any dissent that could build momentum, “since the only way the government can be replaced is through a collapse,” Bacaulinao said.

But he noted to the journalists who gathered to hear his story that the government also monitors the dissent on the internet and on the street to debate on “What’s next?” in order to adjust their policies. Ever fearful of popular revolt, the government survives through a focus on security and China’s economic performance.

When he began covering China for an American audience, there was a romance to the stories. “Everything was so cute” he said to the journalists. Now, China is the second largest economy in the world and is threatening to beat the USA at the their own capitalist game and Bacaulinao is at the centre of it all.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ERIC BACULINAO, BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF OF NBC NEWS
By Hermie Garcia

Eric Baculinao is the Beijing Bureau Chief of NBC News. He was in a group of Filipino students who were stranded in China when the writ of habeas corpus was suspended in the Philippines in 1971. Hoping to return to Manila after a scheduled two-week visit, his journey turned into four decades stay in China. He first visited the Philippines in 1986 and several times more later but he has lived in China since 1971, married and raised a family there. He was in Toronto recently and gave this interview in his personal capacity and not as a media person.

Q. How would you describe your having lived in China for 40 years?

A bittersweet experience. The early years of forced exile in China were quite tough, psychologically. But I got to study and understand China, which is valuable as our country tries to construct a bilateral relationship that can help our own dreams for prosperity and dignity.

A.  Given your knowledge of China’s diplomatic history, what is the most likely outcome of the China-Philippine territorial conflict?

Provided our country pursues a policy of being friend to all and enemy to none, we could make it easier for China to see that its own security will be better served by a compromise solution.  The resolution of its long border disputes with Russia, and with other neighbors, has proved this.

Q. To what extent are foreign media allowed press freedom in China?

A. Surely not to the extent of the press freedom that we understand in the West.

But relative to China’s past, things have improved which is why the biggest concentration of foreign media bureaus in Asia is in Beijing.

But China remains firmly under communist party rule, which seeks to manage, censor and control information to insure regime security and stability.

Q. How would you describe China’s economy? Capitalist? Has China abandoned socialism? Has there been great improvement in the lives of the Chinese since Deng Xiaoping?

A. In common parlance, it’s a hybrid economy, where socialist and capitalist components co-exist and compete, but the state maintains control of the strategic heights.  China has re-defined socialism to include a major role for private and foreign enterprises. Deng’s reform has enabled the 1.3 billion Chinese to enjoy much higher standards of living–from a kingdom of bicycles, China is now the world’s biggest auto market for example–but problems of inequality have grown too.

Q. Will China become the number 1 superpower?

A. No, not in any foreseeable future at least.  China’s economic output can catch up with the US in the next 10 years maybe, but the average Chinese will still remain far behind an average American or European. Can China overcome America’s more important lead in innovation, technology, military prowess and intangible global influences called “soft power”? Japan threatened to overtake the US in the nineties, but Japan later stagnated.  There is always the danger that domestic challenges or turmoil, strategic economic miscalculations, or the growing conflict with America can derail China’s trajectory.

Q: China stopped supporting national liberation movements a long time ago. During Mao’s time, supporting these movements was considered an internationalist duty. Isn’t China’s “modernization” a repudiation of Mao?

A. China’s policies are changing with the times. During Mao, China defined the world’s main contradictions in terms of revolutionary struggle against imperialism. Today they see the main global contests as economic in nature, that economic development decides all other sources of power. It’s like they are saying “it’s the economy, stupid” after learning from past mistakes. And Mao himself, by fomenting the Chinese-US alliance against the Soviets, created the platform which facilitated Deng’s strategy to open up to West and engage the global economy.

PHILIPPINE MARTIAL LAW REPRESSION REMEMBERED

By Beatrice Paez

TORONTO – Old comrades — an eclectic group of journalists, activists and former political prisoners, shared and relived their experiences under the eye of the state, to commemorate the declaration of martial law forty years ago.

Student clubs, newspapers and forums thought to be hotbeds of dissent were shut down or heavily controlled and surveilled by the government when martial law took effect on September 23, 1972.

Forty years later, though many Filipinos have uprooted their lives and are immersed in new soil, a modest crowd of Filipino expatriates gathered to attend a forum at OISE, organized by a network of Filipino community organizations in memory of those who suffered under the militarized government.

Christopher Sorio, who was tortured in prison, recalled the days on campus when martial law reigned. He remarked that forums like this, back then would have been swarming with state security agents, patrolling the activities of its attendants. “As a student, I realized that my situation was not different from the workers who were not allowed to organize,” he said.

Joyce Corpuz, who also came out for the event with her husband says there are remnants of martial law that still hang over the country. While people confront and remember the past, and are organizing reunions through Facebook, everyone has settled into their own lives. Many are more focused on economic survival, she noted.

Yet, she adds, there are still battles to be waged when it comes to dealing with the legacy of martial law. “[There are] executive orders that are not being repealed,” she said. One example she noted was the latitude afforded to the government, and by extension its security apparatus to execute extrajudicial killings.

The stories of human rights being trampled by the state that defined the era of martial law continue to make headlines today. “Why do things today seem to be as they were 40 years ago?” Ricky Esguerra, who attended the forum said. “Continuing summary executions, unlawful arrests, torture and detention, desaprecidos, forced mass evacuation of whole communities in the countryside..”

But while violations continue to mount, Esguerra is hopeful that the tide can be changed if Filipinos abroad stand in solidarity with those back home. Filipino Canadians, he said, can do their part by bringing their concerns to the Canadian government, to draw attention to the destructive effects associated with increased foreign mining activities.

The presence of foreign mining companies has been linked to the displacement of communities and the disruption of livelihood, as well as the violation of human rights, meted out by military or security forces hired to protect mining interests.

Though martial law was struck down in 1981, many at the forum noted that parallels in the plight of political prisoners and the scare tactics used persist today. “Media repression continues, and struggles within the media to resist repression continues,” said Mila Astorga-Garcia.

The media has always proven to be the government’s favourite target, in its tenacity to expose the state’s human rights violations. One of the first orders of business under martial law was to wrest control of the media away from its team of journalists and editors, who were among the first to be rounded up and imprisoned.

Signs steering in the direction of martial law were accumulating years before, noted Mila Astorga-Garcia, a journalist and ex-political prisoner, who was vocal in documenting the government’s human rights abuses.

Along with her husband, Hermie Garcia, she and the other staffers at their student-run newspaper, Dumaguete Times, were locked away in 1969, three years before martial law. They were slapped with criminal charges, tied to a double murder in another province.

Having only published five issues, Garcia believes their paper was on the government’s radar for having written about a land-grabbing case in Negros Oriental and stories about exploitation of sugar workers. She and her colleagues were separated and subjected to torture, as a way to turn them against one another; hers took the form of sleep deprivation. “I realized later how much it could destroy a person’s perspective, how much it could destroy a person’s well-being, even one’s health.”

This old formula of linking government critics to common crimes continues to operate as a state tactic under current President Benigno Aquino’s regime, according to the members of Morong 43, a group of health workers and by default, today’s batch of human rights activists that were detained for their work in delivering health services to the poor.

Hermie Garcia, who was arrested again in 1974 during martial law, narrated the story of the two-week hunger strike of 140 political detainees in Bicutan camp in 1976 which successfully demanded the release of two nursing mother detainees and their babies and the improvement of detention food and visiting rights. He said dozens of them collapsed and were brought to the military medical facilities and due to their determination and outside and international support, the military and the defense ministry were pressured to give in to their demands.
He emphasized that wherever people are, even in prison, they can fight for their rights and oppose oppression.

Rev. Irene Ty, a Filipino-Chinese minister at Northminster United Church, United Church of Canada, was also in attendance, to speak about her recent trip to the Philippines. Her tour included a trip to Bakayan, organized by the Cordillera People’s Alliance, where community members showed her two sites where the ground has been swallowed by the earth because of underground mining. She also visited the Muntinlupa Bilibid prison, a medium-security prison, where she met with political prisoners. “They were charged with crimes they didn’t commit, car robberies and murders.”

Just as today’s activists are responding to the injustices witnessed, martial law triggered its own awakening among budding student activists. Ben Corpuz, a student part of the martial law resistance movement, says he used his post as chairman of his university’s student council to mobilize his peers.

Eric Baculinao, another student activist, was forced to watch martial law unfold from his perch in Beijing. His three-week tour of the country turned into permanent settlement, to return home after martial law was declared would have resulted in his arrest.

Baculinao contributed his own perspective of what it takes to mount a formidable threat against a repressive state, drawing on what he learned from his experience living in China. He closed the discussion, pitching in his two cents, and said, “Strategic opportunities are not easily created, but they come about and we should be alert to seizing them,” said Baculinao.

By Dyan Ruiz

This week a prominent leader in the women’s mass movement in the Philippines unmasked the policies of the President Benigno Aquino Jr. administration at a discussion group in Toronto.

The Deputy Secretary General of the largest women’s mass movement organization in the Philippines, GABRIELA, spoke to a small group at OISE at University of Toronto on Sept. 8. Gertrudes Libang spoke and responded to questions about the struggles of the Filipino people in the current administration of President “Noy Noy” Aquino.

“One of the things we really need to do is unmask him,” said Libang in the question period, “because he still has a good image among many people.”

While international attention was raised through the “Noynoying” phenomenon, Libang said that “Noynoying” actually implies the opposite of what is true when it comes to his administration.

Hundreds of instances of “Noynoying” occurred in the Spring when young people across the Philippines and the Diaspora posed at rallies and posted photos of themselves lounging around. The name and the act of looking bored, relaxed or idle refers to the perceived inaction of the President in preventing issues such as the spike in tuition rates and oil prices.

“’Noynoying’ makes it seem like he doesn’t care. But that is one of the masks. It’s not that he doesn’t care because in reality he’s continuing what his other predecessors have done,” Libang said. She continued to say “it isn’t like the President is not doing anything,” he’s actively promoting and expediting the same policies of past administrations.

The presidential spokesperson for the Aquino administration Edwin Lacierda said in Oct. 2011, “There is no political prisoners” in the Philippines, echoing President Ferdinand Marcos’s statement during Martial Law, “We have no political prisoners.”

Libang said that political dissidents are charged with criminal offences, which is why the state does not see them as political prisoners.

Aquino is fast-tracking a bill to corporatize 26 public hospitals in the Philippines under the euphemism of the Universal Health Care Program. Health care organizations have said this will increase the costs of medical care and this continues the push for privatization by past administrations such as President Joseph Estrada’s and Fidel Ramos’s.

The Aquino administration is now implementing a two-tiered minimum wage in the Tagalog region and later the National Capital Region (NCR), which allows employers to pay less than the minimum wage. In the NCR, the minimum wage is approximately PHP450 (about CAD10.58) per day. The employers would pay the floor wage instead of the minimum and any wages more than that is based on the workers’ productivity.

GABRIELA promotes the rights and welfare of women, children and marginalized communities through education, community mobilization, health care training and through their three elected representatives to the Philippine Congress under the GABRIELA party list.

Libang was in Canada to attend the CIVICUS World Assembly, a gathering of World leaders of citizen action in Montreal.

*With files from Bulatlat.com

By Dyan Ruiz

TORONTO–Celebrating Filipino resistance against oppression was the key message shared by youth through high-energy music, rap songs and spoken word acts, workshops, and displays at the first major event by Anakbayan Toronto.

“Diwa Ng Kasarinlan 2012” on the afternoon of July 7 at Ryerson University featured young Filipino-Canadians sharing their pride through music, poetry and discussions. The event targeted at youth also encouraged participants to explore the roots of Philippine oppression by understanding more about Spanish colonialism and American imperialism and modern-day struggles.

“Filipino pride was earned by the many, many brave women and men who fought for it through action,” said Alex Felipe to the audience, “Patriotic pride is borne in this struggle– in the fact that even under the gravest odds we fight.” 

The event’s lead organizer, Jesson Reyes, said that Diwa 2012 was “an independence day event” that was held on July 7 because it commemorates the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Katipunan. The Katipunan was a revolutionary society formed in 1892 that fought for independence of the country from Spain. Reyes said this day is more emblematic of Philippine independence than June 12, the traditional holiday.

Anakbayan partnered with the hip-hop group, Southeast Cartel, for the event and they acted as co-emcees with Rhea Gamana and closed the show. Their conscious hip-hop mainly in Tagalog brought a lot of new faces among those who regularly attend political events. Throughout the day, a crowd of approximately 100 mostly youth were in attendance, many wearing the new Anakbayan Toronto t-shirts.

Red and white banners stamped with Anakbayan’s logo streamed across the main room, making the large event space at Ryerson’s Student Centre look like a barangay fiesta.

Women from Migrante Canada broke out in line dancing throughout the youth performances and were dubbed the event’s “backup dancers.” Bridge Dang-ay said she was “elated by the active participation of the youth,” especially their “electrifying performances.” She said it was only at this event that she saw “the full force of talent of young Filipino people here, so they made me dance! They made me rock on!”

Belinda Corpuz of Philippine Advocacy through Arts and Culture (PATAC) kicked off the performers and speakers with a song. Performances included the impassioned spoken word poetry of Faye Estrella from Ottawa, the caramel tones of singer Alexander The on acoustic guitar, and alternative rock wails of J’NAI.

Artists from other communities came out to show solidarity with Filipino migrant issues. In the spoken word piece by Guatemalan-Canadian artist, Spin, he said, “we wouldn’t cross these borders if these borders didn’t cross us,” referring in part to the activities of Canadian mining companies in rural areas in the Philippines, South America and throughout the globe.

Rapper, Noel “Fenaxiz” Matta, who performed his new song “White Man’s Burden” named after the poem by Rudyard Kipling justifying the American colonization of the Philippines said he remembers when he was younger and didn’t have a lot of exposure to Filipino culture. With events like this by Anakbayan, youth can strengthen their pride and understanding, which is “good because it gets them talking,” he said.

Philippine history boards were posted throughout the event space, and some evoked strong reaction from participants. “That’s some of the most racist sh*t I’ve ever seen!” said 23-year-old Scott Ramirez about a 1902 photograph of a young Filipino girl on display at Coney Island. “How you gonna show a human being like that?” he said.

Ramirez continued to say he appreciated the information they had on pre-colonial Philippines. “It’s good that Filipinos do their own research in their own culture and know that we’re not naked savages with no culture,” he said, “We were trading with Indians and Chinese. We were an advanced culture.” This is unlike the educational CD Ramirez had as a child about explorers such as Columbus and Magellan that depicted native cultures as backwards and barbaric. The event also raised his awareness on other issues he’s not that familiar with, such as the plight of overseas foreign workers.

By Dyan Ruiz

TORONTO–While most Filipino parents find it difficult to encourage their child’s dreams of being an artist, Lizette Viloria found it in her heart to not only support her daughter, she showcased Alyssa Viloria’s budding talents by curating her first solo exhibit.

On June 23 and 24, the Vilorias held “7 years in NYC” in Leslieville at the studio event space at the Polyhaus on Carlaw Ave. in Toronto. The event showcased drawings, small sculptures and paintings throughout Alyssa’s childhood and teenage years, including works created as part of a pre-college scholarship at the prestigious Cooper Union in Manhattan and her work in university at Pratt-MWP near Syracuse, NY.

When asked about her daughter’s show, Viloria said she was “really excited, but at the same time as a parent I’m also worried about her future because I come from a traditional family where art is not an option.”

“It’s also driven by the Asian parent worrying about the future of their kids. I thought that if she really wants to do something in art then we should just support her. Drop everything that we were hoping for her to become and just support her. Part of that support is trying to get her exposed to the public.”

Eighteen-year-old Alyssa is still in the exploratory stages of her artistic development. When asked about where she sees art taking her, she said, “I sort of have a direction, but since it’s art, it’s arbitrary so I won’t exactly know what I want to do until I explored a lot of other things.”

Spoken like a true artist, Viloria gave aloof and reluctant answers in describing her works. She said if she had to describe a theme of the show, it would be “abstract, structural and eye-catching.” Alyssa says her work is influenced by architecture because both her parents are architects. They’ve exposed her to many forms of art over the years at museums, galleries and shows, including “La Biennale di Venezia” in Venice, Italy, where they visited after she finished high school.

The Vilorias moved from Ajax, Ontario to Manhattan seven years ago when Lizette was transferred to the New York City office of the renowned interior design firm, Yabu Pushelberg.

Alyssa is an expressionist and those who know her could read her works as documenting her feelings leaving a small town “to going to a place that’s bigger than life,” Lizettte said.

Her favorite piece, which features a hanging, ragged net, can be read as an expression of Alyssa’s emotional transition. She said there is a “chaotic pureness to the piece” because it is made of a single natural material, showing a yearning to go back to nature. To Lizette, walking around and inside the work evokes peacefulness; it is a haven from the stress of Alyssa being thrown into the world. The netting surrounded a red sculpture of rounded organic forms reminiscent of an odalisque and clearly influenced by the sculptor Henry Moore.

A childhood friend of Alyssa, 16-year-old Ria So, said she didn’t know that Alyssa “mal-adjusted to New York” until she saw her artwork that day. Her favorite piece is the twisted metal centerpiece that hung above a collection of small sculptures laid out on sand. So said the rusted metal signified to her that Alyssa “had been through so much, all the wear and tear she had to go through to adjust.”

The opening on June 23 became a reunion between the Viloria family and their friends and family in the GTA and was attended by approximately 40 people throughout the afternoon and evening.

The show also featured drawings by Anthea Viloria, who unlike her older sister, Alyssa, plans to take after her parents and pursue architecture.