Moment: Jacob Wachal

©Jacob Wachal

Image and Text by Jacob Wachal

This image, entitled “Kabo”, is part of a larger body of work that seeks to explore my identity as a member of the Filipino diaspora in America through the visual retelling of memories central to my family’s upbringing on the island of Cebu. The image is, on the surface, referential of the bathing pail commonly used across the Philippines, while also alluding to the Catholic Sacrament of Baptism.

This photograph was conceptualized through sketches formulated from conversations I had with my family members surrounding these childhood recollections, interpolated by me in order to experience secondhand their formative moments, with the additional goal of creating a more authentic visual archive that subverts the way that Filipinos have traditionally been portrayed in Colonial imagery. The desire to create this work also stems from anxieties that I and other diasporic peoples have regarding the loss of culture as we become more Americanized and stray further from our roots.

I watched as my mother poured out the kabo over my Uncle Eric’s head, examining the interplay of light and shadow while the streams acted as a prism for the late afternoon sun, ultimately acting on intuition when capturing the decisive moment.

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