This Filipina creative shares what motivates her during challenging times and where she finds inspiration
In the What Matters To Me series, a Generation T honouree describes what they do, why they do it, and why it matters.
Isabel Reyes Santos is an artist who loves to observe and comment on contemporary culture. Her particular style involves repurposing and reconfiguring images and icons from pop culture, such as comics and old Hollywood. Last year, the Filipina creative beat more than 10,000 other entries to win the Uniqlo UT Grand Prix T-shirt design competition, a partnership with New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Here, she shares more about how she overcomes challenging times and where she sources for inspiration.
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With the pandemic causing so many delays in scheduling, I was hit by a lack of motivation. There was a period of time when my shows were postponed every two weeks as the alert or quarantine levels in the Philippines kept changing. It was also hard to create [anything] when you’re faced with bad news every day. I began to think why should I keep on pushing and creating. Am I still needed here? That being said, this pandemic gave me more time with my work; I can edit, stare at them and work on them more. I had extra time to think about myself as an artist.
I am an over-sharer but something people might not know about me is that I studied European and German studies in college.
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