Artist Caitlin Taguibao grew up in a household with a Cantonese-speaking mom and a Tagalog-speaking father. But in an interview with the Toronto Spark, the OCAD grad suggests that her spoken Indonesian might be better than both of those languages. That’s because from 2015 to 2019, she spent a few months ever year in Yogyakarta, which is an important centre for Javanese art.
The Toronto illustrator and muralist held her first solo exhibition in Indonesia. She also painted several murals in Yogyakarta.
“People are happy to have their walls painted,” Taguibao tells Pancouver over Zoom. “They say that if they don’t like it, they can just paint over it again.”
Taguibao has also painted many murals in Canada, where there are sometimes more bureaucratic hurdles in place. She acknowledges that this work is physically demanding.
“I started painting murals because I wanted to work outside,” she says.
Recently, one of her designs, that which moves us, was on a large Lunar New Year lantern at the Varley Art Gallery of Markham. It was part of a LunarFest GTA group of six artistic lanterns exhibited in the Courtyard to welcome the Year of the Snake.
Taguibao draws on Chinese and Filipino heritage
Taguibao says that her piece is inspired by the concept of time. The piece features snakes and fish moving through the water.
“Time is a river that flows and transforms, just as the snake symbolizes eternal rebirth and healing,” the LunarFest GTA website states. “Creatures move through waters that pour out of a vase as it spirals upwards to become a snake, giving shape to all that has come before us, and all that will become.”
Taguibao notes that her art has been influenced, in part, by her Chinese and Filipino heritage. The brushstrokes and appreciation for nature are rooted in the traditions of Southern China, whereas her vibrant colours are sometimes associated with art from the Philippines.
To view more of Caitlin Taguibao’s art, visit her website. Also, follow her on Instagram @taggybowow. Learn more about the communities that make up Canada on the Toronto Spark website. Follow Charlie Smith on Bluesky @charliesmithvcr.bsky.social. The Toronto Spark is also on Bluesky @torontospark.bsky.social.
