Biography
photo credit: M.Buenafe
jo simalaya alcampo explores memory, healing and love through storytelling and community-based art
full bio:
Jo SiMalaya Alcampo is an interdisciplinary artist born in Maynila the capital of the Philippines and raised in Malvern in the heart of Scarborough. She creates interactive mixed media projects that explore hybrid intersecting identities, cultural/body memory, and the healing of intergenerational soul wounds. Jo's practice integrates storytelling, installation-based art, and electroacoustic soundscapes.
As a community-based artist, Jo has developed projects with queer youth, consumer/survivors of the mental health system, and migrant domestic workers. Jo studied at OCAD University and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Honours in Integrated Media.
Working with advisors in the Aboriginal Visual Culture Program inspired Jo to reconnect with her roots. For her undergraduate thesis project, Jo travelled to the Cordillera mountain region in the Philippines to meet with traditional teachers and indigenous rights organizations to learn how artists can develop an ethical code of conduct when incorporating Indigenous Cultural Knowledge into their work. One response to this ongoing inquiry is the installation: Singing Plants Reconstruct Memory.
Jo is based in Toronto, Canada with work presented by 401 Richmond, Antimatter Film Festival (Victoria, British Columbia), CBC-Radio Canada International, FADO Performance Art Centre, Images Festival, Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, Kapisanan Centre, KAPWA-3 Conference: Indigenous Knowledge in the Academe-Bridging Local And Global Paradigms (Baguio, Philippines), the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Nuit Blanche-Toronto, Pride Toronto, V-tape, and XPACE Cultural Centre.
Jo's creative writing and multimedia art have been published in TOK 6: Writing the New Toronto, INCITE! Journal of Experimental Media & Radical Aesthetics, Fireweed Women’s Literary & Cultural Journal, and Pinoy Sa Canada. Jo is an emerging playwright with plays produced by Carlos Bulosan Theatre and performed at Tales from the Flipside.
In 2012, Jo made a presentation at the KAPWA-3 Conference: “Indigenous Knowledge in the Academe – Bridging Local And Global Paradigms” at the University of the Philippines (UP-Baguio). Jo made the journey home with a group of Filipino-Canadian artists, critical thinkers and healers. They have since formed the Kapwa Collective and together they dream their visions for a Filipino-Canadian bridging narrative into action.
Projects for 2013-2014 include Kwentong Bayan: Labour of Love - a community-based comic book project created by Althea Balmes (Illustrator) and Jo SiMalaya Alcampo (Writer) in close collaboration with Filipina migrant workers in the Live-in Caregiver Program.
These are the stories that you don't see in mainstream media. These are the stories that you won't find in most academic papers or research studies. These are real-life stories of community and friendship, love and struggle, and women's empowerment. In the Filipino language, "kwentong bayan" is the literal translation of "community stories" and our comic book project is rooted in love. Please visit our website to learn more: www.lcpcomicbook.com
full bio:
Jo SiMalaya Alcampo is an interdisciplinary artist born in Maynila the capital of the Philippines and raised in Malvern in the heart of Scarborough. She creates interactive mixed media projects that explore hybrid intersecting identities, cultural/body memory, and the healing of intergenerational soul wounds. Jo's practice integrates storytelling, installation-based art, and electroacoustic soundscapes.
As a community-based artist, Jo has developed projects with queer youth, consumer/survivors of the mental health system, and migrant domestic workers. Jo studied at OCAD University and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Honours in Integrated Media.
Working with advisors in the Aboriginal Visual Culture Program inspired Jo to reconnect with her roots. For her undergraduate thesis project, Jo travelled to the Cordillera mountain region in the Philippines to meet with traditional teachers and indigenous rights organizations to learn how artists can develop an ethical code of conduct when incorporating Indigenous Cultural Knowledge into their work. One response to this ongoing inquiry is the installation: Singing Plants Reconstruct Memory.
Jo is based in Toronto, Canada with work presented by 401 Richmond, Antimatter Film Festival (Victoria, British Columbia), CBC-Radio Canada International, FADO Performance Art Centre, Images Festival, Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, Kapisanan Centre, KAPWA-3 Conference: Indigenous Knowledge in the Academe-Bridging Local And Global Paradigms (Baguio, Philippines), the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Nuit Blanche-Toronto, Pride Toronto, V-tape, and XPACE Cultural Centre.
Jo's creative writing and multimedia art have been published in TOK 6: Writing the New Toronto, INCITE! Journal of Experimental Media & Radical Aesthetics, Fireweed Women’s Literary & Cultural Journal, and Pinoy Sa Canada. Jo is an emerging playwright with plays produced by Carlos Bulosan Theatre and performed at Tales from the Flipside.
In 2012, Jo made a presentation at the KAPWA-3 Conference: “Indigenous Knowledge in the Academe – Bridging Local And Global Paradigms” at the University of the Philippines (UP-Baguio). Jo made the journey home with a group of Filipino-Canadian artists, critical thinkers and healers. They have since formed the Kapwa Collective and together they dream their visions for a Filipino-Canadian bridging narrative into action.
Projects for 2013-2014 include Kwentong Bayan: Labour of Love - a community-based comic book project created by Althea Balmes (Illustrator) and Jo SiMalaya Alcampo (Writer) in close collaboration with Filipina migrant workers in the Live-in Caregiver Program.
These are the stories that you don't see in mainstream media. These are the stories that you won't find in most academic papers or research studies. These are real-life stories of community and friendship, love and struggle, and women's empowerment. In the Filipino language, "kwentong bayan" is the literal translation of "community stories" and our comic book project is rooted in love. Please visit our website to learn more: www.lcpcomicbook.com
Still from "the old world is dying, but a new world is being born..." (click image for more info)
