Nina Martinez

Absence Leaves a Mark:
Illustrating Filipino Migrant Stories

From July to October 2023, I volunteered at Damayan, a New York City-based grassroots organization run by Filipino im/migrant workers dedicated to combatting labor trafficking. Every meeting opened with the same reminder: stories shared in this room do not leave it. Illustration became a tool for respecting the privacy of the members, many of whom were undocumented. Avoiding faces, I copied down objects, places, and handwriting.

""Absence Leaves a Mark"" explores illustration as field note when working with migrant populations. Illustrated field notes allow for creative spacing, cropping, and position, and embraces the subjectivity of experience.

My final project is a visual essay about Little Manila, an area in Queens around which Filipino im/migrants have lived for decades. I narrate my experience as a recent immigrant from the Philippines discovering Little Manila, a community that strives to stay visible in the wake of a pandemic and under the threat of gentrification.

Images

/A%20spread%20from%20a%20zine.%20An%20illustration%20of%20a%20blue%20sky%20that%20shapes%20the%20negative%20space%20below%20it%20into%20a%20city%20block%20with%20a%20Filipino%20grocery%20store. /A%20wash%20of%20green%20acrylic%20ink%20depicts%20the%20elevated%20tracks%20in%20Queens.%20Negative%20space%20is%20shaped%20into%20the%20Little%20Manila%20Avenue%20street%20sign.%20Beside%20it%2C%20statistics%20about%20the%20Filipino%20immigrant%20population%20in%20New%20York. /An%20ink%20illustration%20of%20straw%20brooms%20being%20sold%20next%20to%20red%20sacks%20of%20rice%20in%20the%20grocery%20store. /A%20map%20of%20Manhattan%20and%20Queens%2C%20highlighting%20Little%20Manila%20Avenue%2C%20and%20Elmhurst%2C%20a%20heavily%20Filipino%20neighborhood.%20Elmhurst%20Hospital%20is%20marked%20in%20the%20center. /A%20spread%20from%20the%20zine%20with%20two%20illustrations%20of%20women%27s%20silhouettes%20against%20a%20wooden%20texture. /Five%20index%20cards%2C%203%20by%205%20inches%20each%2C%20with%20ink%20illustrations. /Four%20index%20cards%2C%203%20by%205%20inches%20each%2C%20with%20ink%20illustrations.

EXHIBITION IMAGES

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