Margery Cercado in the Artist Studio

Artist's Statement

As a descendant of Filipino farmers and fisherman, I have always had a profound connection to nature. Some of my earliest memories derive from childhood visits to my motherlands of Capiz and Iloilo. In the barangay, sun soaked and covered in mosquito bites, I became deeply bonded with both my large maternal and paternal extended families, as well as my ancestral homes and the lands they belong to: one bordered by the vast Pacific Ocean and the other surrounded by rice paddies and lush farmland. These journeys left an everlasting impression and this influence can be found throughout my art practice. 

With work emphasizing materiality in found objects and mediums like clay, textile, stone, wood and metal, I examine identity, lineage, dichotomy, one’s surroundings in both the physical and intangible sense, and the cultural connections we hold through relation to our land environments and the beings that coexist within it. I believe to understand ourselves we must not only acknowledge our places of origins and current surroundings, but also prioritize our bonds with nature as deep soul work. 

My very process-oriented and often labor-intensive practice excavates the idea of Diasporic Longing in an attempt to make sense of the self and the spaces one occupies. I am interested in the idea of “home” as perpetually mutable and narrated in the process of “becoming”.  

I create sculptural and installation work that tends to use visual imagery, history and natural materials associated with The Philippines and the Philippine Diaspora as a means of connection as a diasporic Filipinx settler in the United States. 

I believe in the power of community, care and kapwa, the Philippine idea of a shared identity or “usness”. The emphasis of a collective society and communal spirit is important to my work as both a ceramics educator and a craft-based artist, as in both regards knowledge is shared from one to another and nourished through togetherness. 

Artwork

CATCH&RELEASE, 2024
Casted Bronze, Found Netting, Found Silk Blouse, Plastic Gold Beads, Frankincense & Myrrh
7ft 8in x 16ft 10in x 12ft

An homage to family members who have passed. “CATCH&RELEASE” is a work that ask the viewer to ponder what we hold and cannot hold from those we lose. Some things remain and other things slip away. Instances in which we catch and we release, often times again and again, as we process loss and grief. Found netting is imagined as a fishing net which catches handmade silk sampaguita, the national flower of The Philippines. Both are smoked in frankincense and myrrh, as a nod to the cultural significance of Catholicism in The Philippines as well as its connectedness with death and spirituality.

4&34, 2023
Deconstructed Hospital Scrubs, Synthetic Piña Organza, Buri Palm Baníg, Bamboo, Gold Beads
9ft x 6.5ft x 8ft 9in

Through its materiality, “4&34” references American colonization of The Philippines, which initially lasted from 1898-1946, and the two nations' current neocolonial relationship through the commodification of labor and the Philippine body, especially within care work. The title and origins of “4&34” come from a statistic in the book Essential Labor by Seattle-based, Filipina author Angela Garbes, which states: that in 2022, although Filipino and Filipino Americans make up only 4% of the nursing work force in the United States, they counted for 34% of the COVID-related deaths. Many of the Filipinx/a/o nurses who were casualties of Covid-19 were willing to provide close, intimate contact care to their patients, at their own expense, not only because they were indeed selfless individuals, but also due to the 48+ years of American colonial and neocolonial commodification of care.

CARPET BAGGER, 2022
Found Jute Rug
3ft 4in x 3ft 10in x 1ft 8in  

A piece about labor and migration. Named after a Reconstruction era term, this work using only found materials, examines xenophobic histories of the US like the racially violent Watsonville Riots of the 1930s. In contrast, it is also about my mom, who came to the United States in 1986. For many immigrants, my parents included, a portion of the money they earn goes back to support family they’ve left behind. “CARPET BAGGER” is based off one of the most expensive bags, The Birkin, as an homage to my mom and all those who migrate to a new place, sacrificing so much, in search of a better life for themselves and those they care about.

Parienté, 2023
Raspberry Alabaster, Found Silk Blouse Dyed with Avocado Pit and Skins
4.5in x 8in x 5.5in

“Parienté” was made to reference the cross-cultural connection between The Philippines and Mexico through Spanish colonization and the Manila Galleon, trading ships that ferried goods between the two countries in the 17th century. It also references the bond between Mexican and Filipino farm workers in America, specifically California’s Delano Grape Strikes of the 1970s, spearheaded by Larry Itliong and Cesar Chavez. An avocado was specifically chosen as its current popularity as a luxury “health food” in the West. This craze of avocados has caused great damage to Mexico, its place origin, and the lands and Indigenous peoples of several states, like Michoacan, where cartels now run the avocado trade.

About the Artist

Margery Cercado (b. 1991) is a queer, second-generation Filipinx artist and educator based in Seattle, the Indigenous land of the Duwamish. Her parents immigrated to the United States from the areas of Capiz and Iloilo in The Philippines. Though born and raised within and just outside of Seattle, her identity was formed by her family’s voyages back to the motherland.  

Her practice seeks to understand oneself as a diasporic individual & explores themes such as colonization, labor & community through disciplines like sculpture and installation. Emphasizing natural materials, found objects and imagery associated The Philippines, Margery’s often craft-based, process-heavy work acknowledges the often-forgotten labor of one’s hands in creation and storytelling, specifically through the concept of Diasporic Longing. 

She initially trained in production pottery at Bruning Pottery in Snohomish before becoming a ceramics instructor and studio assistant at Yu Tang Ceramics in Fremont. Her work has been shown in Seattle and Philadelphia, and can be found in the permanent collection of Soho House Portland. Recently, she received her MFA from the Low-Residency program at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She lives, teaches and makes in Seattle. 

Learn more about her work on Instagram @margerymakes.