Aims & Objectives (first draft)

Below is the initial “Aims & Objectives” Section for my proposal.

The primary aim of this project is to better understand the ways in which migration, immigration and movement of transnational communities are visually represented in London’s urban landscape. In particular, I will focus on visual representations of the Philippine diaspora. London arguably has the largest population of Philippine migrants in Europe but where is ‘Filipinotown’? How is this diaspora visually changing the city? What footprints (discreet and indiscreet) are being left in the landscape by this migration/settlement of people? What aspects of Philippine culture have been diffused, morphed or have remained intact in the integration process to the UK?

To answer these questions and achieve this aim, my first objective is to locate, observe, interview, record and photograph evidences of the Philippine community. I then intend to distill the collected data under my ‘subjective lens’ to find several underpinning themes. I stress the subjective nature of this project as I am a Canadian born Filipino living in London temporarily with my French-Canadian wife and mixed race baby. I acknowledge my unique narrative and influence it will have on this project. My diaspora story carries with it varied levels of displacement, biases and assumptions inherent to my life experiences. With the collected data, gained experiences and realized themes I will then create a series of digital collages that best illustrate my findings and the personal process I went through in searching for ‘roots’ in London.

The secondary aim of this project is to locate points of connection between digital art and the phenomenon of global diaspora. Specifically I want to better connect my digital art practice and interest in new media to my own research interests in transnationalism. How can I best utilize the immersive nature of digital media to represent the organic fluidity of transnational communities? Is there a need to make such a connection? To what extent have other artists and academics bridged these two possibly disparate themes?

To achieve my secondary aim I will start by locating any relevant discourse, key artists and primary schools of thought in digital and transnational art.  I intend to pinpoint, infer and possibly create further bridges between these two fields of study/art. My next objective is to acquire further digital imaging skills that better express themes of organic urban change, layered urban narratives, cultural displacements/integration and memory. These themes have been relevant for me in analyzing my diaspora narrative and have structured much of my current digital art practice. Finally I intend to create a series of works that digitally represent an essence/aura of a specific diaspora– that of the Philippine-Londoners of 2010.