The husband-and-wife artist couple, Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan compose elaborate installations and sculptures invested with a sense of Filipino culture and character, often set against experiences of dislocation and change. Having migrated from the Philippines to Australia, the Aquilizans’ work reflects personal experience, as well as the broad contemporary phenomena of global exchange and communication.

In In God We Trust 2009, the artists have fused numerous Filipino traditions — fine metalwork, prison tattoos and the ‘jeepney’, the popular custom of modifying old military jeeps and other vans for public transport; the design of the jeepney is often vibrant and energetic in order to attract the attention of customers. Yet, the work also highlights American influences in the Philippines since World War Two, as well as the Filipino tendency to embrace external influences and reinvent them in their own image.

In God We Trust 2009

GOMA Q: Contemporary Queensland Art
11 July – 11 October 2015
Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
Brisbane, Australia