Filipinx Arts Collective NAMAN Launches its First Self-Titled Show with LA Artcore in Little Tokyo

February 2, 2025 - Opening on March 15, 2025 at LA Artcore in Downtown LA/Little Tokyo, NAMAN is an eponymous group show that introduces the NAMAN Collective—a group of L.A.-based and transpacific Filipinx artists and cultural practitioners. The exhibition is emblematic of NAMAN’s multitudes, featuring a diverse range of photography, drawing, sculpture, performance and installation by Aaron Dadacay, Anna Luisa Petrisko, Carol Anne McCrystal, Christine Morla, Diane Briones Williams, Emilyn Eto, Isola Tong, Jeanne Le, Maria Villote, Mark Golamco, Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, Michael Rippens, Nica Aquino, Philip Koscak, and Tala Mateo. Artworks in the NAMAN-organized show transcend the body, reckon with globalization, reclaim cultural practice, foreground the meditative power of craft, reconcile multiple identities, tell stories and convey memory through varied archival modes and contend with as well as transcend colonial frameworks.

The exhibition’s location is of great significance as it was once the site of "Little Manila," a vibrant Filipino community in the 1920s-40s. As present-day Filipina/o/x artists living in diaspora, this location is emblematic of the diverse Filipina/o/x experience, where transformation, erasure, adaptation and nostalgia speak to our varied experiences.

NAMAN is about enthusiastically remembering the Filipinx community’s role in building Los Angeles and beyond while looking to the future. The collective builds on legacies to strengthen our collective power as Filipina/o/x cultural workers. Through this exhibition, we honor the past while forming new paths, ensuring that our voices and stories continue to resonate and inspire.

Founded in 2023, the NAMAN Collective was spurred by a shared question, “How can we raise the profile and representation of Filipinx visual artists and culture workers?” and a shared longing for solidarity, the collective naturally emerged. Together, NAMAN fosters collaboration, resource exchange, empowerment, joy and critical engagement with the broader socio-political fabric of Southern California. 

Inspired by the pre-colonial word "naman," it defies direct English translation. It encompasses nuanced meanings shaped by context and delivery--- a dynamic expression of emphasis, contrast, addition, comparison, frustration, repetition, change, or boundaries. "Naman" conveys our disparate experiences while connecting our multitude as a larger whole. Like islands gathered in an archipelago, our collective explores how the elusive, multifaceted and slippery meanings of "naman" embrace both our individual and collective experiences as Filipinx people in diaspora.

LA Artcore, the exhibition host, is a non-profit art space dedicated to the creative exploration, discovery, and expression of Los Angeles and global residents while supporting the careers of established and emerging contemporary artists.

Location: LA Artcore, 120 Judge John Aiso St. Los Angeles CA, 90012

Gallery Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 12 - 4 pm or By Appointment

NAMAN Public Programs:

Exhibition: March 15 - April 13, 2025

March 15, 2025, 6pm-9pm: Opening party, with a performance by Mark Golamco and Allen Bleyle. 

March 29, 2025, 3pm-5pm: Exhibition walkthrough with participating artists. 

April 12, 2025, 2pm-4pm: Story Circle with the general public, artists, culture bearers, and changemakers to discuss the long history of LA’s Filipinx arts representation, community-building, and cultural organizing that continue to shape and inspire contemporary artistic expression, agency and collective action.

Bringing together creatives, poets, dreamers, civic planners, and archivists, we honor the ripples of influence and the diverse artist practices that make us NAMAN.

NAMAN Collective Contacts:

Letitia Fernandez Ivins 213-590-2523, letitia.ivins@gmail.com 

Gerlie Collado 818-326-5121, gerliecollado@gmail.com

This exhibition is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs