wedged nurse, 10 in x 15 in, ink on paper

I’m trying to move an understanding of Filipina nurses beyond predictable clichés into something deeper and stranger. The multiple narratives of gender, subservience, power, care-giving, and immigration, (as well as having a mother who is one of these nurses) inform the work.

The drawings are on simple blue or green paper that evokes a sort of standardized institutional quality, like in a hospital. The nurses are outlined in black ink, with only their uniforms heightened with white ink, rendering them more or less invisible outside of the professional function they perform. They’re situated or suspended in large, vague, liminal spaces, and are often interacting with some sort of dough-y “goo”. The goo seems to function as both flesh and border. In looking at my mother’s work-photos of wounds and sores, I’ve been struck by the visceral nature of something that is supposed to be inside of you staying relentlessly outside of you, unclosed.

The videos exist slightly apart from the drawings, although they’re clearly related. They’re more like studies, or sketches: I provided uniforms to two young women (who also have relatives who are nurses), gave them some context for my project, set up a couple of basic tableaux, then more or less let them improvise their own narratives. What ended up coming through after editing is a consistent, if goofy series of transgressions; actions that move these nurses outside of pious selflessness/poor immigrant clichés and into a more absurdist, rebellious place: what nurses might do to entertain themselves off-duty, horsing around, being “bad”.