Holy War, (Diptych)

Hung like tapestries, these panels are two old carpets from Filipino overseas workers who collected them as souvenirs from their time in the Middle East. Arranged on the surface of the carpets are wooden fragments from old furniture and fluorescent bulbs fashioned into crosses. Wax has been dripped carelessly onto the wooden surfaces and woolen threads, coating them in a white residue, to connote to the passage of time. In this assemblage of objects that represent rituals of prayer and devotion, the artist recalls the meeting of two great religions, Christianity and Islam. He alludes to the complicated and sometimes violent history between these two religions, and its cultural repercussions on the daily lives of Filipino diaspora in the Middle East.