My recent photographic, video and print media works speak to my mother's (Vida) story of migrating from Manila to Winnipeg in 1972. I am fascinated with the traditional values she chose to hold on to while making her life here. One of the traditional values that I inherited was “utang loob” (inner debt). 

Since her arrival, Vida has been sending Balikbayan Boxes as a form of remittance (money sent by someone working abroad to his or her family back home) to her relatives in the Philippines helping to keep her family fed and cared for. Incidentally, this act of remittance remains to be the country’s main source of economic relief. In 1970, the minimum daily wage in Manila was P8.00, today, the minimum daily wage is ~ P537 ($14 CAD/day). As a first generation born Canadian, I don’t have the same familial bond to anyone in the Philippines as my mother has to her homeland. I fear this act of remittance will end after her generation passes. 

Recently, my mother told me that she had remitted $200 CAD to her niece Linlyn for seed money. That money was used to purchase wholesale products that would be put towards her tiny sari-sari (variety) store - to stock shelves with wholesale goods. Linlyn and her family live without an income due to Covid.  Motivated by that, I felt an urge to help. 

Balikbayan Boxes - The Remittance Project is my utang loob, a print media series featuring non-perishable household items that I recall helping pack with my mother growing up. This first series is of Carnation Evaporated Milk. I dedicate this work to my mother - Vida Venzon - honoring her for all that she has done for her relatives back home.

50 x 5” x 6” adhesive prints of the Carnation Evaporated Milk boxes are available for $20 CAD. 

All proceeds will go towards Linlyn's sari-sari store in Manila. Please DM me on FB or IG @charles_venzon if you would like to purchase.

Thanks to Nils and his family for this opportunity to share my work at Parlour.