Stephanie Syjuco is a female artist and educator whose works address political concerns in the capitalist system. She was rewarded with a “2014 Guggenheim Fellowship Award, a 2009 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award, and a 2020 Tiffany Foundation Award” (Catharine Clark Gallery, 2022). The woman works in handmade, sculpture, photography, and digital spheres.
There are several main points of this research paper. The first one is to discover what decisions were made by the artist to express her ideas and intentions. The second one is to understand what interests Stephanie Syjuco and what drives her personality and art performances. The last one is how she expresses problems through art and what are her main concerns. The artist deserves attention, and her art has to be discovered and understood.
One moment the woman started pondering about historical ethnographic photography to understand how exactly it is to be an authentic Filipino. She decided to plunge into this culture and present it to people. The photos in Cargo Cults were made using styled goods, bought in shopping malls, and after using them, they were returned to departments for full credit. This way, the artist wanted to make consumers think about what they want to partake in those images and what to deny (PBS, 2018). Those photos became genuine masterpieces with a profound meaning, and everyone understands them subjectively.
Riots in the Bay area had impressed the artist; she felt like she was mentally in the middle of everything that was happening. To process every video, picture, and news she consumed, Stephanie Syjuco decided to create a banner where it is sewed “Become ungovernable.” (PBS, 2018). The purpose of the slogan was to show people that they were manipulated by the media and that it is easy to control any population this way. That is why people have to become “ungovernable” and not let authorities play them.
The artist claims that sometimes people who perceive art find their subjective meaning, and in some works, there is no universal explanation. It seems that the woman tries to make people consider lots of issues and evoke emotions that are suppressed deep down. However, she assumes that slogans do not play a significant role in life for some people, they are overlooked, and it is an essential problem.
Stephanie Syjuco states that behind her every work stands an elaborate agenda; everything that she produces is both creative and structured. She tries to make her works to be open enough for everyone to understand them; however, the artist claims that: “But for me, it would be irresponsible to then leave it at being open-ended.” (Liu, 2021). Thus, she expresses excellent ideas through art, her works are oriented to the masses, and she wants people to wake up, look at the situation from a different angle, and consider current problems. That is why she creates everything carefully to message ideas in a proper way.
Encountering kind slogans, which are related to political topics, where people encourage others to be good people and show empathy, Stephanie Syjuco disapproves of them. As a person of color, she knows exactly how it is to be discriminated against and that no empathy helps in this situation. The woman once said: “Having empathy for others is a personal transformation that people should go through to become better people, but I’m not going to wait around for someone to love or appreciate me to grant me human rights.” (Liu, 2021). These strong words fully describe her position as a revolutionary artist who aims to change the world. The desire to fight against unfairness and human rights drives her personality in this case.
The artist aims to fight against racial discrimination and criticize white supremacy. For instance, in her project, The Visible Invisible, Stephanie Syjuco represents “a set of green chroma key dresses,” which refers to American history (Liu, 2021). When pilgrims came to America to share their culture and goods, what was supposed to build democracy, was built on enslavement, and this part of the history was removed from books.
Generally, Stephanie Syjuco is concerned about unfairness, bad influence, and massively controlling people by authorities. The woman states that the violence in the world system people live in today was always present in the shadow. It seems like it is crucial for her for the world to be a better place, for people to be conscious, for rights to be protected, and for everybody to be safe here. It seems like she has a substantial part of herself that strives for justice and can not endure some aspects of today’s life. She decided to open people’s minds and show the current situation, point problems out, and guide them to the right path.
Some people wrongly assume that the woman’s works about Filipinos are an attempt to find a strong sense of the artist’s identity. However, in creating these projects, Stephanie Syjuco does not concentrate on her nationality; she focuses on white supremacy. She explains that she shows Filipinos because “she feels like she can speak to having a relationship with these images.” (Liu, 2021). She states that she does not want to use Native American archives in her works because this should be done by native artists. Thus, the woman shows people of her nationality in her masterpieces due to the deep comprehension of them and close relationships.
Stephanie Syjuco believes that the artist has to change their approach to art within life according to the current circumstances, the ideas of the work, massage, and the inner artist’s changes. She always tries to “shift shapes and mediums and tactics.” (Liu, 2021). In addition, the woman tries her best to make her work as complicated as everybody can ponder the main idea of the work. Although she does not want to erase her heritage, it does not have to be a key factor that influences the perception in people’s heads of her masterpieces.
Despite the crucial messages and serious issues Stephanie Syjuco addresses, she tries to contrast her art with humor. In some of her projects, the woman wants to be serious and stick strictly to the plan, but in some of them, she aims to be funny and even add some absurdity. For instance, in her project Diversity Pictures, she shows how absurdly racists look when they describe people of color. This way, the artist shows and mocks the narrow-mindedness of this type of people and their inability to think widely.
In conclusion, Stephanie Syjuco is a talented and incredible artist, who addresses such issues as racism, political concerns in the capitalist system, discrimination, people’s stupidity, and unfairness. Sometimes, it seems like she strives to sort this world out and clean all the garbage. The artist aims to protect discriminated people, mocking and confronting cruelty and white supremacy. Her main idea is to make people think, be mindful, and be conscious about what they believe in and how they act. She brings critical thinking to people’s minds and shows the shadow side of the world.
References
Liu J., (2021). Stephanie Syjuco: diving into the American archives—and implicating everyone—with the Bay Area artist. 48hills.
San Francisco Bay Area.Season 9 Episode 3. (2018). PBS.
Stephanie Syjuco. (2022). Catharine Clark Gallery.