Cher Musico
Cher Musico (she/her/they) is a queer autistic Filipinx-American interdisciplinary artist exploring aspects of home relating to identity, labor, and connection. With a focus in photography and fiber art, her background in graphic design and production has helped influence a digital perspective to her studio practice. Influenced by Filipinx culture and her own experiences and observations in the LGBTQ+ community, in addition to interests in collections, cataloguing, and documenting, she seeks for narratives within the intersections in relationships and nostalgia. She’s spent some time competing in spoken word poetry slams, winning space to compete a few times at the former National Poetry Slam. In addition, Musico helped co-found Mustache Envy, an entertainment drag and queerlesque troupe, which she is currently the executive producer. She received her AAA in Visual Communication and BFA in Advertising Design from the Art Institute of Dallas and is currently an MFA candidate in Studio Art at Texas Woman’s University.
My Skin is Manila
My Skin is Manila utilizes manila paper products and explores my family photographs and objects from childhood in an attempt to search for relationships to self and place. Manila paper products were once made from abaca fibers, a native plant of the Philippines. The work in this series are on deconstructed manila envelopes or other manila paper products as a way to reference my Filipinx connection. Most images are of myself with an object. The process of image transfers and the disappearing ink play with the concept of lost memory.
This series is supplemented with stylized photos of the manila envelope artwork with some of the actual childhood objects that are seen on the envelopes. The school series sift through my “formal” yearbook photos that are then image transferred on the type of manila paper once used in elementary school. The shredded pieces of photo paper provide a more clear image in places to signify more distinct memories, such as a particular ribbon or ring worn.
Identity is layered but in seeking facets of home, it always includes a part of self. My complex relationship to objects, ideas, and self is about “home.” Within these connections, I hope to find self and communities we can connect with.