KO-MISSION: event series

Curated by HL Doruelo

part of Links Hall’s Co-MISSION Curatorial Residency program

The KO-MISSION event series grounds in the truth that grief is deeply political and aims to understand its nuances and wisdom as we work together to transform harm. Each of the featured artists explore their relationship to grief, healing, care work, and their experiences as Filipinx/a/o people in diaspora rooted in Chicago. While we experience individual grief in uniquely felt ways, we recognize that we share grief that is both generational and systemic. We see grief work not only as a strategy of survival, but as a necessary part of our movements for collective liberation. KO-MISSION responds to our need for communal space to move through individual and collective grief. We invite you to join us as we dream of a kinder world and struggle towards genuine solidarity, together. Maraming salamat to the artists and AFIRE Chicago for collaborating with me and to Links HALL's CO-MISSION Curator-in-Residence Program for supporting our vision. With love, HL Doruelo

KO-MISSION Events schedule:

Friday, May 5 | 7-9:30PM - Performances at Links Hall

Shaping Grief: Letters To My Lola by Christian Aldana

Musings from Pisces Urges by Czaerra Galicinao Ucol

The Phantom Is Present by Ashley Dequilla

Saturday, May 6 | 7-9PM - Performances at Links Hall

Re-Member Carefully by Crystle Diño

Sacred Skin: Synthesis by Kiam Marcelo Junio

Saturday, May 27 | 2-4PM - Community Workshop on Zoom

Zine-Making with Sky Cubacub & Rebirth Garments

Virtual on Zoom (zoom link with RSVP)

Sunday, May 28 | 2-5PM - Community Workshops at Horner Park

Creative Mythmaking with Kiam Marcelo Junio

Freedom Movement Alignment with Crystle Diño

Merienda and Tsika-tsika (Snacks & Chat with Community)

Horner Park, 2741 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

HL Doruelo (they/them/siya)

is a Filipinx organizer, scholar, artist and curator whose work is deeply invested in intergenerational kinship and queer practices of care. Gathering community through food, story, and intentional movement, their cultural work and interdisciplinary research seeks to cultivate meaningful reflection and relation. They expose asymmetries in the migrant care labor industry and use storytelling as a method for mutual witnessing, collectivizing care, processing grief, protesting, and transforming harm. They previously facilitated political education and arts-driven workshops as a youth & immigrant rights organizer with AFIRE Chicago (Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment). An NYU Sulo Philippine Research fellow, HL holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. in Public Policy Analysis, Psychology, and French from Pomona College.

FEATURED ARTISTS

From left to right: Christian Aldana, Czaerra Galicinao Ucol, Ashley Dequilla, Crystle Diño, Kiam Marcelo Junio, and Sky Cubacub

Christian is the author of The Water We Swim In (Sampaguita Press, 2023) They are a queer, Filipinx, artist, educator and community organizer based in Chicago. She currently serves as the Programs Manager at 826Chi, a non-profit creative writing center that amplifies the voices of Chicago youth. Christian is the founder and Creative Director of Luya, a poetry organization that centers the voices of people of color. Alongside their comrades at The Digital Sala, They are dreaming up alternative visions of what radically flexible, community-centered, revolutionary writing spaces can be. Their poetry has been published or is forthcoming in the Chicago Reader, Injustice Watch, Marias at Sampaguitas, the Capilano Review, and Locked Horn Press. Their performances have been featured at the Poetry Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Stony Island Arts Bank, Young Chicago Authors, on NPR's Worldview, and more. Find them on twitter & InstaGram @xtian_AS.
Czaerra is a queer Filipino writer from Chicago. Their debut chapbook Pisces Urges is forthcoming from Sampaguita Press in 2023. Their poems have appeared in The Offing, Just Femme & Dandy, and beestung. They are a Best New Poets 2021 and Best of the Net 2021 nominee, and received their B.A. in Asian/Pacific/American Studies from New York University. You can find them on Twitter and Instagram @czaerra.
Ashley Dequilla is an artist-filmmaker born to Filipino immigrants who uses painting, performance, moving image, installation and ritual in her practice. Ashley graduated from the College of William and Mary with a BFA in Studio Art and Art History and holds a Post-Baccalaureate certificate in Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is the two-time recipient of the UIC Award for Graduate Research. She works as a community organizer in the realm of gender violence survivor advocacy and Philippine cultural production, serving on the Board of Members for CIRCA Pintig and the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago. Ashley graduates with an MFA in Moving Image from the University of Illinois Chicago under the advisorship of legendary horror filmmaker Jennifer Reeder. She will begin an MA to PhD track program in Art History at UIC in the fall, focusing on Philippine visual culture within Chicago and the Midwest.
Crystle Diño is a Pinay Chicago native guided by her passions in the visual, performance, and healing arts rooted in community and her cultural upbringings. She unearths herstory and investigates time, place, and relation by incorporating elements of the body, participation, and memory and by creating movement using repetition in patterns immersed in personal stories, collective experiences, and folklore.he practices as a folk art therapist, performance and visual artist, mover & dancer, cultural worker, and youth development worker. She embodies her freedom by training in Filipino Martial Arts and dance and utilizes the concepts of Chicago House culture of freedom, love, and empowerment, as well as the Babaylan consciousness as foundation and impetus for her practices. Visit freedommovemeantalignment.com for more about her work.
Kiam was born in the Philippines and is a US Navy Veteran, with 7 years of service as a medical assistant and respiratory therapist. They earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Science in Health and Human Performance from Pacific College of Health and Science. Kiam holds certifications as a Holistic Health Coach (ICF-ACC), Yoga Instructor, Massage Therapist, and Personal Trainer. They are a lifelong learner, passionate about integrating biological sciences (body) with positive psychology (mind) and contemplative practices (spirit). Kiam has performed and exhibited their work throughout Chicago, New York, Mexico City, Vancouver, London, and Cádiz. Kiam leads breathwork and mindfulness workshops, teaching how to access embodied wisdom, heal the Inner Child, and create powerful choices that radically change one's inner and outer worlds. You can follow them on Instagram @iamkiam | https://kiam.online
Sky is a nonbinary disabled Filipinx neuroqueer from Chicago, IL. Xey are the creator of Rebirth Garments, an activewear line for trans and queer disabled people of all sizes and ages, which started in summer 2014. Sky is the editor of the Radical Visibility Zine, a full color cut and paste style zine that celebrates disabled queer life, with an emphasis on joy. Named Chicago Tribune's 2018 Chicagoan of the Year. You can shop and learn more about xyr work at rebirthgarments.com

Partner Organization:

Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE) Chicago

AFIRE Chicago is a grassroots community organization that works to build the capacity of Filipinx/a/os* to organize towards progressive change. As an organization founded by Filipino immigrants, we carry with us the legacy of People Power. We believe in supporting the leadership of people most affected by structural injustice and make space for them at the forefront of our movements. We seek to amplify the voices of those most silenced in our community: undocumented families, new immigrants and refugees, domestic workers, low-wage workers, seniors, and youth.

*We use Filipinx/a/o as shorthand for Filipinx/Filipina/Filipino to honor all gender identities.