Looking back on his childhood as a military kid, Kenneth Paulino Jr. realizes that watching the adults around him ask others about their last names or their village was a way to find connection and build community when you found yourself far from home. It’s a sentiment he shares as part of The Guam Artist Collective.
“Whether we have native Chamorro blood, have roots in Guam, or have called Guam home, we all share a common ion to bring pride to our island while building a community of creatives out here,” the group of Southern California creatives said in a statement from founders Neeko David and Zard Apuya, describing their first San Diego showcase at Thumbprint Gallery in La Jolla. “We hope this show will help pave the way in building a bigger community of Guam artists here in the mainland and hopefully lead to more opportunities for all of us to share our talent with everyone.”
The show, which is on display through Aug. 26, features the work of 10 artists — ranging in specialties from sculpture, digital illustrations, music, and augmented reality — centered on the theme of creating a home away from home. Paulino, who lives in Santee and is director of interactive media for the company he created with his wife, Kottura Innovations, contributed an augmented reality piece that involves a two-dimensional image on canvas, connected to an Instagram filter that will recognize the piece and allow viewers to digitally interact with the artwork. The imagery includes a half man-half caribou figure, a whale’s tail, flying turtles, coco trees, a sandcastle, and other objects related to the island. Illustrator and designer Jerilyn Guerrero, based in Los Angeles, created three new pieces focused on some of the food and drinks that remind her of growing up on Guam. Both artists took some time to talk about their work, their backgrounds, and finding a home away from home. (These conversations have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What can you tell us about The Guam Artist Collective and this show?
Guerrero: I was invited by the collective to this gallery showing. I’m not one of the founders or anything, but from what I can see and experience, it has been bringing diverse Guam artists to have a show that I haven’t seen before. I haven’t gathered with other people from Guam who are doing something in the arts. I’ve talked about this recently with Chamorro artists that I’ve just met and it’s hard to meet people outside of our families, especially in the creative field. Either we’re widespread or there aren’t that many of us out here, so it’s interesting to see a collective being formed and to showcase people who I can resonate with, culturally, and I can see their work. Even when I went down to San Diego and saw the work, I brought my friends and I could explain certain things in the show because the show theme was “home away from home.” Even though I don’t know every artist’s background, what they chose to show, I can see pieces of home in it myself.
Q: Can you talk a bit about your background and where you grew up?
Guerrero: I grew up in Guam. I’m Chamorro and Filipina and I have a lot of family still in Guam. It’s an island, so there are a lot of coconut trees, a lot of beach, scenery that I think we didn’t appreciate as much when we were younger. We didn’t appreciate what kind of beautiful place that we found ourselves in. Going back, as an adult, I appreciate even more that I was surrounded by nature a lot, surrounded by a lot of family.
A family barbecue is a big thing, all the time. Any excuse to have a barbecue. It felt like every weekend we were always gathered with family from both sides, barbecues on the beach or at people’s houses. A lot of celebrations, and I can , very strongly, the different generations. Even when I was very young, I still my great-grandmother and memories of her being around. Playing with my cousins outside, in the sun, running around chasing after animals, chasing little chicks, chasing after grasshoppers. In going to the beach for birthday parties or barbecues, sand was going to make its way onto the plates [of food]. We’re not close to the ground, but the sand always made its way up.
Paulino: I was born and raised on Guam. When I was in first grade, my dad ed the military and we traveled around after that. I lived in California, Alabama, [South] Korea, Guam. You know how Puerto Ricans are very proud of where they’re from? Texans are proud of where they’re from? Guamanians, Chamorro, we’re very proud that we’re from Guam. To be able to travel, I’ve noticed that there’s a whole world out there and I see similarities in people. Yes, we may eat different things, we may look different, but there were a lot of similarities in my culture and my family, with other people I’ve met throughout the world. So, my culture is a big part of my identity and my wife’s identity, as well.
Q: On your website, you mention being inspired by your children to teach them Chamorro values and traditions, to help know themselves and their culture, and to be proud of their background. How would you describe what some of those values and traditions are, from your perspective?
Paulino: Sure, they’re definitely very family-centric. I see a lot of similarities to my Hispanic friends, Asian friends, people from the South. Very community driven, so we always try to look out for each other. If the government can’t really help us at the time, we’ll still voice our opinions and make them do it, but we’re also going to take care of each other. It’s a very community-driven culture. When we started the company we just noticed, at the time, kids were just always on their tablets, on their phones, and we wanted to get to wherever they’re at and try to expose them to our culture. So, having these elements, whether they’re games or “Sesame Street”-style programming, they’re having fun and learning things, but it’s not in your face.
In our culture, and other cultures have them, we have the duendes, kind of like little [gnomes], like leprechauns for the Irish. Usually, they’re very mischievous. Our take on it is that it’s almost like “Captain Planet” with all of the earth elements, combined with DreamWorks’ “Trolls” and they’re in the Mariana Islands. They end up being able to control the different elements of the earth, like earth, wind, fire, that type of stuff. We want to expand on that universe and have animated programming on YouTube where we can show that and incorporate some of the cultural aspects. We want to have a lot more ways for people and kids to learn things, not just games, so it’s an exciting time for us to go in and create.
Q: Can you share an example of way that you’ve taken a well-known Chamorro legend or story, and given it a modern twist in the artwork that you create?
Paulino: We had a mobile game and we have books, as well. On the website, we have this [book], “Outsmarting Manet: How the Maidens Saved Guam.” There’s a legend about how there’s a big fish. When you see Guam, it’s very thin in the middle, so our local legend is there was a giant fish from the Marianas trench that was devouring Guam and almost ate Guam. A group of women, or sirenas, (they’re pretty much like mermaids) got together to cut their hair to make a big net and the makanas, like a spiritual being, blessed it to make it stronger and capture the fish. That’s the story, in a nutshell, but we redid it and made it into a children’s book and that’s augmented reality, as well. We have it in English and Chamorro.
Q: How has your understanding of yourself, your culture, and your place in the world evolved over the years? And how do you see this understanding showing up in your art?
Guerrero: Growing up, I was surrounded by family and things that were familiar. Then, when my family did move when I was 10 or 11, we moved to New Jersey. It’s a transitional age; you’re not just a kid anymore, you’re kind of transitioning to understand what’s going on around you. It was definitely a hard transition for me because of the family and friends that I missed in Guam and being on the East Coast was cold. Everything was a culture shock for me. When we moved there, we lived in a house with a family of other people from Guam. Every family had a room, so when I first came here my family was in one room and another family was in another room, so at least we had exposure to people we shared a culture with. When it came to going to school and the community, in general, it was a Polish community, so a lot of people didn’t know Guam. It was hard for me to explain that to other kids who were asking. They weren’t asking in a bad way, just curious, and I felt like that started to become a theme — growing up and always having to explain where I’m from. They didn’t really have an idea of what it is, where it is. They just weren’t exposed to it, it’s a very small island. I think, in time, I started to feel unseen, and then not seeing myself in media or entertainment felt like, ‘Oh, my people are invisible.’ If I was brought up in any kind of reference, it was as a joke, as a place where no one knew about. I was familiar with the feeling of being an outsider throughout middle school. It wasn’t until I moved to California where I could really see more diversity and could feel a bit more seen, being around the Filipino community in the Bay Area.
Going back to my work, I started to draw a lot of women or people who look similar to me. I could challenge myself to draw more diversity. That’s one thing that comes from feeling like I wasn’t seen. I really want people to be safe from that and also see what the world really looks like, or the community that I see, and bring that into my work when it feels natural to do so. I want to celebrate that because I think there are so many people who have different experiences that they might not be seeing. I think the overarching theme is that since my work is vibrant, it was subconsciously going to be seen. I want to be seen, I want people to celebrated as they are, in their individuality and the things that make them a little bit special, unique. The things you’ve experienced, your point of view, all of those things are so special. Rather than be hidden, I like to encourage, not just myself, but others to share that, as well. I think that just makes our world so much more colorful and interesting.
Paulino: Definitely being more confident in myself and what I can put out there. There’s a lot of times where I would kind of brush it off and didn’t think that what I’m doing is a big deal. Now, it’s like I don’t feel like I’m bragging, I’m just expressing my craft to people. So, explaining some of my background as an artist and craftsman, I’m more embracing of it. I love to talk about how I do processes now, as opposed to before where I would try to make it sound like it was no big deal. I guess, for creating in general, it definitely changed since before having a family. Now, it’s twofold. With the company, it’s really about teaching the youth and trying to just be a part of that conversation, showing them that they can create and have great content. For myself, I don’t know. I’m still trying to find out what it means to be an artist because there are other things that influence me besides my culture. It’s a big part, but I love music so I DJ and have been doing a lot of hip-hop music for a long time. That influenced me in some of my work, so some of my work is not necessarily all cultural stuff. I’m just trying to figure out where all that fits together.
Q: What can you tell us about the work you’ve contributed to this show?
Guerrero: I work mostly in digital now. For this show, I did three new visual illustrations that I printed and had framed for this show. Going back to the theme, “home away from home,” I really was trying to think about what I could show, visually, with my style that would also be fun to do. Even though I am from Guam, it didn’t always find its way into my work in a very specific way, but this gave me a chance to actually share something in that vein. I thought about food and how I could draw food. Then, I thought about my childhood again, snacks and certain visuals that stood out to me when I was really young. In my series, the three pieces that I did would be staples. One is a popular snack on Guam [Meiji Karl Cheese Curls], one is a popular beverage I used to see adults drinking that I also wanted to drink when I was younger [Mr. Brown coffee drinks], and another is a hot pepper paste [Donne’ Dinanche]. The jar would be very recognizable. I think a lot of people growing up in Guam, their families would bring them this little jar. We love spicy food. So, I thought about what would be fun for me, that feeling of the younger me wanting to show my version of something, and it came to be those things and depicting my own characters with the packaging. So, the packaging will look familiar, but with my own spin on it. I just really wanted to do something fun and recognizable. Something that, if you are from Guam, you’ll get it and it’s a fun piece with a double meaning to it.
Q: Part of the description for the show mentions featuring works that display “what it means to create a ‘home away from home.’” What does this idea mean to you? Do you feel like you’ve been able to do this?
Paulino: People from Guam, we just have so much pride that we’re from there. I noticed, too, that when we were traveling with my dad while he was in the military, we’d always try and meet somebody from Guam. You start to see them talk to each other, ‘Oh, what’s your last name?’ or ‘What’s your mom’s last name? From which village?’ I didn’t understand it when I was younger, but they’re trying to make a connection and see if they know somebody else. It could be a third cousin from your auntie’s house, but once they find that connection it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re related!’ That’s what I feel when I think about “home away from home,” that’s what I’ve seen my whole life. Anywhere we go, we meet somebody, we talk to them, see where they’re from. The Guam Artist Collective is like that, I actually felt that when I was there. I felt like the food, music, artists, and we’re just talking and it felt like I was back on the island. I felt like I was in Tumon Bay, outside the Guam Museum. This group, the events, transports me back to Guam. Like, I’m glad we’re out here, me and my family, doing things, but there’s still that longing for where you came from, so it was nice to have that feeling of “home away from home.” As a community, we always try and make each other comfortable, no matter where we’re at.
