MJ Flamiano
Scratch (The Bone is the Seed), 2019
Two-colour screenprint on Somerset paper
80 x 52.2cm
Through listening to a Tagalog language learning podcast, I come to the realisation that the word butó, meaning bone in English, also has the secondary meaning of seed. It is through this innocuous discovery that I am reminded of the memory of my mum, a first-generation migrant from the Philippines referring to the pit and the seed of the mango as the bone; a frequent error in her speech that I would instinctively correct with irritation. By reflecting on the nuances of translation I reconsider my identity and relationship with the languages of Tagalog and English, derived from the discarded husks of fruit, seeds, and childhood experience.
Courtesy of the artist.
B-side artist: Emily Gallagher
Scratch (The Bone is the Seed), 2019
Two-colour screenprint on Somerset paper
80 x 52.2cm
Through listening to a Tagalog language learning podcast, I come to the realisation that the word butó, meaning bone in English, also has the secondary meaning of seed. It is through this innocuous discovery that I am reminded of the memory of my mum, a first-generation migrant from the Philippines referring to the pit and the seed of the mango as the bone; a frequent error in her speech that I would instinctively correct with irritation. By reflecting on the nuances of translation I reconsider my identity and relationship with the languages of Tagalog and English, derived from the discarded husks of fruit, seeds, and childhood experience.
Courtesy of the artist.
B-side artist: Emily Gallagher

