Kultura Highlights: Casielle Santos-Gaerlan uses art to elevate her voice
Featuring nostalgic elements like food, sneakers, and dark-skinned Indigenous women, Casielle embodies her identity as a Filipino-American woman through her art.
Kultura Highlights is a series of interviews with Filipino creatives, entrepreneurs, writers, artists, and business owners with the purpose to highlight their stories and brand. Show your support for our Filipinx brethren by reading more.
It’s been a minute since I’ve published a Kultura Highlights interview! Excited to share that I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Casielle Santos-Gaerlan - a Filipino-American artist and graphic designer based in Brooklyn, New York. I first encountered Casielle through the Ube Festival that was held at Smorgasburg last summer. As one of the vendors, I saw her beautiful prints of digital paintings that featured a mixture of elements representing who she is: morena women with dark skin and dark hair, papayas and purple yams (ube), and Nike sneakers reminiscent of Brooklyn’s “sneakerhead” culture.
Who is Miss. Santos-Gaerlan? Brooklyn-born and raised and a fellow alumni of Parsons School of Design, Casielle is a multidisciplinary visual artist and graphic designer. With a background in fine art, Casielle’s artwork and designs draw inspiration from her identity as a Filipino-American woman growing up in New York City with concepts and ideas that empower women and represent culture and style. In a recent project, she is the illustrator behind Bodega Princess, an illustrated children’s book based on a true story of a kindergartener “bodega princess” whose dad owns a bodega. The book - a community-funded project started by special education teacher, Deirdre Levy (@nycfilipinos on Instagram) - addresses New York City’s food insecurity. “Growing up in Brooklyn, [bodegas are] really part of the framework of the city,” says Casielle. “Proceeds [from the fundraising] will go back to food education and communities because there’s very sparse information and education out there around access to healthy foods”. (Read more about the project here.)
“I like to explore themes like the deep history between the Philippines and America, and colonialism, but also the Philippines as a matriarchal society.”
Casielle has also done work for big-name companies and brands, which include Lush Cosmetics, Cosmopolitan, Yahoo!, and Puma. Displayed in the exteriors of a NYC Lush Cosmetics store is her mural featuring flowers and brown women, and a commissioned logo for Yahoo! in commemoration of Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month - all of which you can view on her website. In my circles, Casielle is one of the few Filipinos in the artistic and creative spaces that I know. “I feel like Filipinos definitely have not been prominent in those spaces,” Casielle told me. “There is a void in the arts, fine arts, and design communities of Filipinos… in terms of representation, there is a lacking.” Historically, women portrayal in fine art are very often from the male gaze - but there are fewer portrayal of Indigenous and Brown women, and women artists of color are severely underrepresented. Only 5% of artworks on museum walls in the U.S. are by women artists. “I want to make work for museums and galleries one day, and that can be representation for Filipinos.”
One of my favorite things about Casielle’s artworks is her exploration of her identity - as a Filipino-American morena woman growing up in Brooklyn. Her digital paintings feature nostalgic Filipino food and snacks - from purple yams in a weaved bag, to calamansi glittered with sampaguita flowers and boxed fresh mangoes. Food is an important element that connects us to culture - it represents the foundation of our roots and I’m a big fan of the inclusion of known Filipino foods in Casielle’s work. My favorite piece of hers, which is displayed in my bedroom wall, is a painting of a morena woman hiding her face behind a giant monstera leaf. There could be many interpretations of this painting, but it captures one of the feelings of Filipinos in the diaspora - hiding the identity from feelings of shame (you can read my extensive piece on race and assimilation here).
What do you think this artwork means?
In reading about Filipino histories, Casielle is more inspired by the idea of colonialism and the culture before the Spanish influence. “I take inspiration from everywhere - I’m not a very linear person and I can be inspired anytime. Like in the middle of the night, when I’m walking down the street, or when I’m on the train.” Casielle explains. “But I’m particularly inspired by things that are connected to my Filipino identity.”
“I like to explore themes like the deep history between the Philippines and America, and colonialism, but also the Philippines as a matriarchal society. I like painting Filipino women because there’s this photographer (Dean Worcester) who took photos of Indigenous Filipino communities in the 1900s, and I feel like they were exploitative. I wanted to take that power back and display Filipinos from my perspective.”
Dean Worcester was an American colonial administrator who was the former Secretary of the Interior and Local Government of the Philippines. He was known for his controversial policies and photography, which he used to further encourage his American colonial agendas - including the idea that Filipinos are too uncivilized for political independence and used this to justify taking complete control over the country, according to the Association for Asian Studies.
It is for these reasons why representation matters, especially in the art world. For Casielle, she’s reclaiming and changing the narrative of Filipino culture in art, decolonizing a representation that oftentimes connote oppression and constructing a portrayal of the community in a thoughtful and meaningful way. She also provides us a unique glimpse of herself in her work, weaving in her story which adds a touch of authenticity. More representation means more stories like Casielle’s, more awareness of our traditions and culture, and more learning of our histories – just like how this journey of starting The Kultura has been.
With the hopes of diversifying the art and design world, Casielle hopes to begin an artist residency, whether that’s in New Mexico or France, to further explore Indigenous cultures from different perspectives. As a freelancer, she will continue making illustrations and paintings – “I really love illustration. I think it’s such a great way to get Filipino work out there since it’s accessible.”
Casielle recently got an art studio and will be making more illustrations and more paintings - give her a follow on Instagram to stay up-to-date with her work! You can also buy her prints, paintings, or commission a piece on her website.
What else is new?
Remote village, Davao de Oro province in Mindanao, witnessed a landslide. Triggered by heavy rainfall, Al Jazeera reports that the provincial disaster injured 31 people and killed 5 people. 41 are still missing as of Feb. 7 2024. Read more.
Westside Chamber Players will be performing a beautiful evening of music, featuring Filipino-American violinist and a good friend of mine, Adie.
What: Westside Chamber Players in Manhattan
When: Friday, Feb. 16 at 7:30pm - 9pm ET
Where: Church of the Holy Apostles
296 9th Ave, New York, NY 10001
How to attend: Free admission - RSVP with this link!
The Philippine Fest announced their next festival coming this Spring 2024!
What: Philippine Fest
When: Saturday, Apr. 6 from 10am - 6pm ET
Where: (NoHo) Broadway between 11th and 12th St
More info to come! Give their Instagram a follow to stay updated
Got a Filipino-centered event coming up and want to share? Email tips to info@nicoleabriam.com
Being a mystery. Of people not truly seeing a person for who we are, just focusing on different parts of them, and projecting their own perspectives and beliefs onto them.