Abang-guard Makibaka at Queens Museum 03.16.25 - 10.05.25

Artist duo Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan + Jevijoe Vitug) contends with visibility through the lens of immigration and labor in their multidisciplinary practice. For their first museum solo exhibition, Abang-guard reconfigures the iconic architecture of the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair’s Philippines and New York State Pavilions as a scaffold to structure their investigation into the layered significance of the year 1965 in Filipino American labor history. Abang-guard takes stock of how these narratives have been lived, remembered, erased, and fought for. Makibaka, roughly translated from Tagalog as “coming together for change,” is a rallying cry used by Filipino movements and communities in fighting against exploitative systems. The spirit of makibaka is woven into Abang-guard’s paintings, sculptures, performances, and videos that pay homage to significant Filipino American sites. 

Abang-guard: Makibaka is organized by Sarah Cho, Assistant Curator and will be on view at the Queens Museum from 03.16.25 - 10.05.25.

Queering Pilipinx Aesthetics: Haw, Haw, the Queerabao!

For Filipino American History Month, eight Filipino American-owned Artist Spaces from the Salo-Sala coast to coast network jointly present a virtual exhibition: Queering Pilipinx Aesthetics: Haw, Haw, the Queerabao! curated by O.M. France Viana.

How do Filipino Americans (Fil-Ams) queer Pilipinx aesthetics? How do they navigate the intersectionality and overlapping social identities of culture, race, gender, religion, and other systems that both liberate and oppress their self-expression? How do they disrupt binaries with cultural specificity? One whimsical yet profound answer to these questions is in the concept of the "Queerabao." View 35 amazing artists and 62 artworks in this virtual exhibition, broadcast from Oct. 1-31, 2024. Access the link from any of our sponsoring artist-owned spaces (warning: mature content) !

Salo-Sala network sponsors:
Balay Kreative San Francisco  @balaykreative
Bindlestiff Studios, San Francisco  @bindlestiff_sf
BlissonBliss Art Projects New York  @blissonbliss
Kularts  San Francisco  @kulartspresents
Mata Art Gallery  Los Angeles  @mata.art.gallery
North Fork Arts Projects Napa  @eileentabios
Topaz Arts  Queens  @topazartsinc
The ARROZidency, San Francisco  @omfrancestudio

Click @omfrancestudio bio to watch a video and access the PDF about the exhibit.

CICA Museum - Form 2024

“Form” introduces photography, painting, video and interactive art, sculpture, and installation work on the subject of forms, shapes, or media. The exhibition runs from October 2 – 20, 2024.

Featured Artists: Stella Arion, Syl Arena, Bela Balog, Abbey Behan, Johnny Boy, Maureen Catbagan, Daura Campos, Hugh Choi,  Gregory Deddo, Ramiro Diaz, Carla Forte, Leo Hainzl, Heather Coker Hawkins, HWANG HYUN SOOK, Jang sung-suk,  Anais Kim, EUNSUNG KIM, Olena Kishkurno, Song Yeon,  Gumi G. Lu, Lee hye won, Yunbo Ma, Leslie Streit & Robin McCain, Michael N. Meyer, Joonhee Myung, Yoonsik Chico Park, Antoine Plainfossé, Ashley Quast, Elif Sezen, Shim Yun Joo,  Hyogeun Song, Song GaHee, Joseph Tigert, Mikala Valeur, Maximilian Vermilye, Stef Will.

Dyke+ Arthaus visits the bureau

The Philadelphia-based Dyke+ ArtHaus is a community-driven space for Dyke artists of all persuasions, centering those 40 and over. Co-curated by Juno Rosenhaus, Dyke+ ArtHaus Founder, and Lola Flash, artist and activist, at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division in New York City, the exhibit aims to reflect the diversity of Dykes and the diversity of their art practices. The theme is the show itself.

Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits The Bureau sits within the lineage of lesbian artist group exhibitions including A Lesbian Show (1978), Great American Lesbian Art Show (1980), Lesbians To Watch Out For: 90s Queer LA Activism (2019), and Rebel Dykes Art and Archive Show (2021).

Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau runs May 17-Sep 8, 2024. Closing celebration is on Saturday, Sep 7, 5:30-7:30.

Contemporary Landscapes at Gallery Omnibus

Contemporary Landscapes is a virtual 3D exhibition at Gallery Omnibus curated by Light Bear. Featuring the works of 44 international artists, the show will run from May 15 - June 15.

“Places matter. Their rules, their scale, their design include or exclude civil society, pedestrianism, equality, diversity (economic and otherwise), understanding of where water comes from and garbage goes, consumption or conservation. They map our lives.”

© Rebecca Solnit,

Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics

You are (not) Invited II Exhibition at All Street Gallery

Come into our kitchen, and eat our food; this is (not) an invitation. The Kitchen Project presents the second iteration of You are (not) Invited, featuring works that center diasporic femme Asian stories on care, labor, and maternal figures in the kitchen. What are novel and known ways of taking care of each other? You are (not) Invited II showcases an entanglement of consuming labor, love, and affinity. 

“You are (not) Invited” exhibit runs at All Street Gallery - 119 Hester Street, from April 3-10. Gallery hours are from 1-7pm.

The exhibition features works of The Kitchen Project, Abang-guard, Anooj Bhandari, Jade Doumani, Fei Ewald, Toby Kim, Janine Lai, Chan Lin, Siobhan McBride, Tiffany Pham, Khôi Nguyên Trinh, Michy Woodward, Annika Wong, Siyan Wong, and Lydia Zhou.

The Kitchen Project is currently funded by the Brown Institute of Media Innovation.

Every Woman Biennial - 5th Edition

Excited to be part of EVERY WOMAN BIENNIAL’s 5th edition I Will Always Love You exhibition at La Mama Galleria on view from March 2 - 24, 2024.

There will be a series of events and performances throughout the month.
Check @everywomanbiennial for full details including workshops, featured artists, and how to participate.

The 2024 Every Woman Biennial is co-curated by a team of creatives and artists who have been the driving force managing and producing all previous Biennials with founder C. Finley: Molly Caldwell, Executive Director and Producer; Eddy Segal, Artistic Director; and Jerelyn Huber, Gallery/ Production Manager.

Funding is generously provided by:
The Deborah Buck Foundation, The Jonathan Rinehart Family Foundation, and Caldwellings Real Estate.

2024-25 QM-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists Recipient Abang-guard

The Queens Museum selected Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan + Jevijoe Vitug) and Umber Majeed for the 2024-25 QM-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists.

The QM-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists in New York City grants two visual artists $20,000 each, individual studio space at the Queens Museum, professional development consultations, close mentorship from Queens Museum staff members, and a solo exhibition that will open in 2025.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, this year’s Open Call invited applications to respond to the complex history of the Queens Museum’s site and Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Applicants were encouraged to join the Museum in critically engaging with the present-day implications of the Fair, which idealized American democracy by promoting industrial, international, and domestic cooperation through technology and culture.

Invisible Bodies Exhibition at HUB-Robeson Galleries

The HUB-Robeson Galleries at Pennsylvania State University hosts the Invisible Bodies exhibition, curated by The Border Gallery and Emireth Herrera Valdés. The show explores migrant labor from an artistic point of view will be on view from Octbober 10, 2023 - February 18, 2024.

Invisible Bodies examines the relationship between migration and labor; bringing attention to the overlooked stories of unseen individuals within society. The exhibition displays the resilience, determination and hierarchical structures tied to immigration and race in the U.S. It includes 15 artists who have created socially engaged projects, paintings, sculptures, installations and performances. These works reflect on the demanding nature of labor and its undervaluation.

The exhibition also looks at the gender and racial aspects of migrant bodies as non-citizen workers. These workers play a crucial role in shaping today's society. The gallery's green walls symbolize support for an open immigration system. This allows immigrants to contribute to the nation's labor force. The featured artists include Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan + Jevijoe Vitug), Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Magdalena Dukiewicz, Brendan Fernandes, Billy Gerard Frank, Zac Hacmon, Julia Justo, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Jamie Martinez, Zahra Nazari, Michael Pribich, Lina Puerta, Coralina Rodriguez Meyer, Luis Alvaro Sahagun, and Manon Wada.

More Than Lumpia Exhibition at Epiphany Center for the Arts

Abang-guard’s Little Manila Monuments - Little Manila Ave. (2023) will be on view in the More Than Lumpia exhibition curated by Cesar Conde at the Epiphany Center for the Arts from October 6 - November 17.

As Filipino cuisine gains recognition, More Than Lumpia explores Filipino-American identity, socio-cultural experience, and politics behind the lens of visual art. The exhibition aims to address and challenge the underrepresentation of Filipino-American artists in the art community. Despite being the second-largest Asian group in the United States, Filipino-Americans have often been overlooked and marginalized in mainstream art institutions. By exploring the Filipino-American experience through visual arts, this exhibit aims to challenge stereotypes, promote representation, and foster a more inclusive art community.

Art of the Guardians Panel Talk at AAMG Virtual Convening

Jevijoe Vitug and I as Aban-guard along with poet Louisa Lam were part of Art of the Guardians presentation by Lambert Fernando and panel discussion for the 2023 Association of Academic Museums and Galleries Virtual Convening. Lambert’s presentation topic was about the art of Security Officers at the Met and their profound relationship they have formed with the collection, their experiences during the COVID 19 pandemic, and the art that they created during the lockdown. The art was later exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC in a exhibition titled: Art Work: Artists working at the Met, which opened for the first time to the public and was very well received garnering international press coverage including NBC Nightly News, Aljazeera TV and German ARD TV. I discussed how museum guards and staff can be a vital collaborative and educational resource in connecting with communities by sharing Abang-guard’s projects and our translations of museum spaces and objects.

Handle with Care Performance at 601Artspace

On the final weekend of Invisible Hands, Abang-guard (Jevijoe Vitug+Maureen Catbagan) will be performing Handle with Care with special guests Louisa Lam and AIW home care workers.  The performance will be happening on Friday, Sept 15th, 6pm at 601Artspace, 88 Eldridge Street, NYC

The artists will discuss their works featured in the exhibition, No More 24! May Day Tapestry (2023) and Care Guardian (2023), followed by a meditative participatory performance including poetry by Louisa Lam and stories from AIW home care workers. 

Louisa Lam holds an MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry, from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Queens and works as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her writing and poems have been published in New York Magazine, The Greensboro Review, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Perspective web series.

Ain’t I a Woman!? (AIW) is a campaign led by immigrant women home care workers organizing against 24-hour workdays in New York City. 

Invisible Hands is an exhibition curated by Emireth Herrera Valdés and highlights works by Abang-guard (Jevijoe Vitug+Maureen Catbagan), Margarita Cabrera, Brendan Fernandes, Jay Lynn Gomez, Zac Hacmon, Jamie Martinez, Patrick Martinez, Dulce Pinzón, Hernando Restrepo, Luis Alvaro Sahagun, and Betty Yu. Curated by Emireth Herrera Valdés. The show will be on view from July 22 - Sept 17, 2023 at 601Artspace on 88 Eldridge Street.

Abang-guard Street Museum at The Six Foot Platform

Jevijoe Vitug and I will be performing Abang-guard Street Museum at The Six Foot Platform in Dumbo, Brooklyn from 12-6 pm. The Six Foot Platform is an experimental art and performance program that presents work by Brooklyn-based artists on a 6 x6 platform at the intersection of Washington and Water Streets.

Abang-guard Street Museum is a participatory platform that enables the public to share their inner voice and creative expression via gallery format. Part workshop, part art space, Abang-guard will host and feature each piece made by the public. The platform museum provides an opportunity to showcase and uplift a diversity of voices while questioning what constitutes art and who can be an artist. Through democratic disruption, Abang-guard Street Museum empowers creativity while opening a wider field of access and authorship to the cultural production of value.

Presented by the Dumbo Improvement District in partnership with Brooklyn Arts Council.

Invisible Hands Exhibition at 601 Artspace

601 Artspace presents Invisible Hands, an exhibition highlighting works by Abang-guard (Jevijoe Vitug+Maureen Catbagan), Margarita Cabrera, Brendan Fernandes, Jay Lynn Gomez, Zac Hacmon, Jamie Martinez, Patrick Martinez, Dulce Pinzón, Hernando Restrepo, Luis Alvaro Sahagun, and Betty Yu. Curated by Emireth Herrera Valdés, the show will be on view from July 22 - Sept 17, 2023.

Invisible Hands features ten artists from a wide range of backgrounds who engage with the theme of domestic labor. Some are descendants of migrant domestic laborers who reckon with the legacy of this work in their family history, and some have directly performed domestic work themselves. Others look at domestic labor as part of a broader interest in narratives of immigration, labor, activism and resistance. Through socially engaged projects, sculpture, installation, performance, photography and painting, Invisible Hands illuminates hierarchical structures of class and race in the US as well as the resilience of domestic workers within these structures who sacrifice  to support their families and who organize in solidarity for fair wages and greater rights.

in pieces... exhibition extended June 10 - July 9

Excited that PS122 Gallery extended the Residency Unlimited (RU) 2023 NYC-Based Artist Residency Program in pieces… exhibition curated by Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger until July 9. The show highlights works by Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan + Jevijoe Vitug), Tatiana Arocha, Miatta Kawinzi, and Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow.

Featured in the exhibition is Abang-guard’s Little Manila Monuments, an ongoing research-based project that draws inspiration from the Rizal Monument in Manila, Philippines that commemorates the national hero, Dr. José Rizal and is guarded by the Philippine Marine Corps’ Marine Security. The multi-media installation presents brick-and-mortar businesses in Little Manila, Queens, as landmark monuments in New York City to pay tribute to the working-class immigrants who built them, and acknowledge them as modern-day transnational heroes. Abang-guard acts as sentinels in front of restaurants and convenience stores, framing their value and significance as bridges and lifelines between families and their homeland.

in pieces... exhibition at PS122 Gallery

PS122 Gallery is pleased to host Residency Unlimited (RU) to present in pieces…, an exhibition featuring works by Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan + Jevijoe Vitug), Tatiana Arocha, Miatta Kawinzi, and Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow. The exhibition is the culmination of RU’s 2023 NYC-Based Artist Residency Program, and will be on view from June 10 – 25, 2023.

Residency Unlimited (RU) presents in pieces…, an exhibition that is the culmination of RU’s 2023 NYC-Based Artist Residency Program, where artists focused on research and the development of multidisciplinary projects around the history of Little Manila in Woodside, Queens, and the intersections to immigration, labor, and visibility (Abang-guard); the coca plant, colonization, scientific discoveries of cocaine, and the development of Coca-Cola (Arocha); the links between the United States and Liberia reflecting upon personal, national, and transnational histories (Kawinzi); and the interplay between sugar cane plantation slavery in Jamaica and the sugar cane industry in Scotland (Lyn-Kee-Chow).

in pieces… encompasses a broad spectrum of narratives to shape a fuller and more nuanced understanding of historical knowledge and the intertwined formations of identity, memory and place. The exhibition draws its title from Katherina Grace Thomas’s essay “Nina Simone in Liberia,” published on guernicamag.com in 2017. In the essay, Thomas recounts an anecdote shared by a friend: “Liberia’s past is in pieces, he said, and here’s one of them. Maybe it’s the one you’re looking for.” The text was among many shared by the artists during weekly salons that considered materials related to their research.

in pieces… is curated by RU Guest Curator Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger.

Quiet Before - The Brown Vanguard

Quiet Before is a series of panels co-ordinated by Nancy Bulalacao that examines anti-Asian violence by “capturing history through conversation.” Recently the series featured artist Lambert Fernando, poet Louisa Lam, and Abang-guard (with me and Jevijoe Vitug) as we talk about our groundbreaking work inspired by being museum art guards and the community we have built along the way.

Continuation - A Tribute to Colin Chase

Colin Chase was my advisor and close mentor. My encounter with him was the main reason why I chose City College to pursue my MFA degree. Continuation, a tribute exhibition honoring him, is on display at CCNY Compton-Goethals Gallery from April 14-May 4, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 20, 5-9pm.

This image that I made titled Allegory of the Cave is dedicated to him. Colin prompted me to perceive objects through its many layers of relations; not only its materiality but also the intangible shadows connected to it. Not only its historicity but also what is sensed and unsaid. It made me think about how dark matter is unseen and yet holds all that is seen in the universe. How a shadow in Plato’s cave can be both an illusion and a revelation.

RU 2023 NYC-Based Artists-in-Residence

Thrilled and honored that my collab Abang-guard (with artist Jevijoe Vitug) is part of Residency Unlimited’s (RU) 2023 NYC-Based Artist Residents. Other artists that were selected include Tatiana Arocha, Miatta Kawinzi and Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow.

The cohort was selected from an open call for artists who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color who have research-based practices that fill in gaps in historical knowledge. During the three month residencies from April 3 - June 30, 2023, Abang-guard will focus on the research and development of the history of Little Manilla in Woodside, Queens, and the intersections of immigration, labor, and visibility. We will be participating in a culminating group exhibition at PS122 Gallery in June.

The artists were selected from more than 180 applicants by a panel of three arts professionals: Elvira Clayton, Rachel Gugelberger, and Dario Mohr.

2022 Recap: Osmosis Exhibition

During November, I was part of OSMOSIS, an exhibition which highlighted the art of guards in New York City’s most acclaimed museums. The show ran from November 11-13 in Art Cake and was presented by Gentle Cowboys and organized and curated by Gabriel Sehringer. Highlighting the rich artistic lives of cultural workers within museums is a valuable resource in creating personal connections to communities which institutions serve.