A Visual Glimpse

"Sacrifice" (2010)
by Jillian Sudayan
Oil on canvas.

"They say she is a pioneer, but she is played as a puppet as they tempt her away from her homeland and family. She says that leaving was her sacrifice, but in reality she is the sacrifice... This painting tells a story of the oppressed Filipina. Although it seems as though she is glorified, in truth she is dis-empowered, blinded and silenced by the effects of globalization, forced to migrate in order to support her family and help keep the Philippine economy afloat in a time of global economic crisis. As a second generation daughter of a mother who left her home country in the 1970s, I grew up seeing my mother torn between two families- the one she left back in the Philippines and the new family she created here in Canada- struggling to make ends meet and bandaging broken relationships all the while reassuring herself that she did everything she could to provide a better life for her family. With every case the stories are different, but the state of our women remains the same. In solidarity for the struggle of women- Abante babae!"