Maria Farrar is an artist based in London. Born in the Philippines in 1988, she was brought up in Shimonoseki, Japan, until the age of 15, when she moved to the UK.

In this talk, Maria will tell the stories of three Filipina women who have left their country for work or through marriage. Just as there are many cultures and diasporas, there are many different ways in which migration is experienced, but in this talk she will focus on just three individuals she observed at close hand while growing up. Having been born in the Philippines and moved to Japan, she had thought that the lives of the Filipina women who surrounded her during her childhood were typical; only by thinking about her memories did she realise these women were extraordinary. The three stories reflect the effects of separation, the sacrifices first-generation immigrant communities make, and how, despite the difficulty of being separated from your larger family circle, building new families in a new country is a beautiful thing.

Maria’s work relates to these stories at a more subconscious level in which she focuses on sensations, emotions, and themes. She thinks that visual representations of stories have a different kind of freedom from journalism or novels. There seem to be no connections at all, but with an open mind, the human need for care and tenderness emerges in familiar but new characters, and in the relationships between them, to which she herself bears new witness.

About the contributors

Maria Farrar

Maria Farrar has received her BFA from the Ruskin School of Art, in 2012 and her MFA from Slade School of Art in 2016. Her solo exhibitions include “Too late to turn back now” Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore (2019), “Eaves Deep”, mother’s tankstation, London (2018), “straits”, mother’s tankstation, Dublin (2017), “Marine”, Supplement Gallery, London (2016). Her works were included in group exhibitions including “Known Unknowns”, Saatchi Gallery, London (2018). Her works have been acquired by the Saatchi Gallery Collection (London), and AmC Collezione Coppola (Venice). www.mariafarrar.co.uk