m/b LOCOMATE is a voyage of memory. Recent and new works in the exhibition enrich the metaphors Diokno Pasilan explores in his art practice about people and communities. Particularly informed by the motions of an islander people from the Philippines – a community where the artists grew up in – m/b Locomote constructs portraits from rust and into rice containers colloquial to the community. Pasilan then caps off this peculiar journey back with ambient synecdoches of boat- making. It is a language of local craft and a history of islands that are people. In this entire assemblage of works, the artist weaves stories and narratives, responds to local conditions, and plays the role of a visitor who is neither distant nor alien from his subjects. He returns in m/b LOCOMOTE.

About the artist:

Diokno Pasilan (b. 1931) studied Fine Arts in the School of Art, Design and Media in Perth, Western Australia and has had his solo projects presented in various venues in Australia and the Philippines. His latest solo exhibition, a retrospective of his major works in the 2000’s, was held last May 2013 at the Jorge Vargas Museum in the Philippines. Aside from his visual arts practice, Pasilan works in performance as well and he has been featured in featured individually and collectively with Kubrist Gong Band in the Philippines and Western Australia.

-The Drawing Room

Image: © Diokno Pasilan
Sakayan
Wood & photo transfer
230 x 50cm