Kimberley Acebo Arteche's Palo Maiden reflects the artist's research of indigenous Filipino art forms and her embrace of BDSM practices in overcoming trauma.

Artist and activist-educator Kimberley Acebo Arteche is committed to decolonizing art institutional practices and foregrounding emerging Asian Pacific and BIPOC artists. A San Franciscan by way of Baltimore, Maryland, Arteche's earliest creative curiosities included searches for indigenous Philippine art on the then-burgeoning internet. Seeking context and connection to her far-away family, Arteche began to understand colonialism's insidious effect as manifest in racist and misogynistic portrayals of Pinay women.

I got to know Kim while curating the 2018 exhibition Betweenscapes with Dr. Kathy Zarur. Since then, I've hoped to speak with her about what motivates her creatively. When I saw early selections from Palo Maiden previewed on Instagram, I reached out to Kim to learn more about this new series. In Humble Art's second video interview, Kim and I chat about grief as an underlying and dimensional theme in her work, BDSM practices as a vehicle for healing, and what she's working on during quarantine.

Roula Seikaly in conversation with Kimberley Acebo Arteche

© Kimberly Acebo Arteche, “Ta,too Project (I and II)” (2014), Installation: archival print on backlit media, halogen light, 18 x 24 x 3 inches (image courtesy of Kim Arteche and Incline Gallery)

© Kimberly Acebo Arteche, “Lahi Project (Restituta, Juana, Florentina)” (2016), cotton weave, 80 x 60 inches

© Kimberly Acebo Arteche, “Bodyless (4899)” (2018), digital print, approx 44 x 66 inches

Using Art to Understand Grief and Personal History