THE STORY OFVON

Von has developed into a contemporary decolonial indigenous artist - a multimedia painter and illustrator with a creative methodology deeply rooted in history, historiography, and literature. A self-taught artist, Von’s passion for the arts increased significantly in the thirteen years he had lived in Hawaii prior to moving to Wisconsin in 2019 to study and pursue law. Von is a descendant of the Isneg community, an indigenous group in Apayao, Northern Philippines. He is currently a housing attorney for the Eviction Free Milwaukee housing team of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee.

INTO KALIHI

Originally from the Philippines, Von and his family immigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii in 2009 where he continued his high school studies in Farrington High School, where met his first actual art teacher, Tess Pereira. Von used to only enjoy copying drawings and illustrations from comic books and magazines, but Ms. Pereira saw his potential and helped him discover the limits of his artistic talent. In the three years Von attended Farrington High School under the instruction of Ms. Pereira, he amassed over twenty art awards and recognitions, including the 2009 National Art of Dairy Contest, 2011 Rock the Statue Green International Art Contest, and the 2012 National Congressional Art Contest. 

With two international recognitions and three national art awards, Von won the “Most Outstanding Student in Fine Arts” three years in a row. He also received numerous recognitions for his dedication to service and leadership, particularly the prestigious Alexander Hamilton Scholars Foundation. Von graduated with honors and was a Board of Education Valedictorian in 2012. 

FROM MANOA AND BEYOND

Initially committing to the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture, Von had a change of heart and shifted his focus in arts and humanities. Selected as Chancellor’s Scholar, Von finished his triple bachelor’s degree in American Studies (with highest honors), History, and English with a minor in Filipino Language and Literature from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Spring 2016. While taking a brief pause from actively exploring his art, Von’s academic experience created a new foundation upon which his art would spring out of.

Von served as a Group Tours, Communications, and Marketing intern for the New-York Historical Society in New York City in the summer of 2013. He worked closely with various departments in the museum in crafting group and city tours, and he was exposed to various museum-studies-related skills such as curating, collecting, preserving, and presenting. It is in N-YHS where he came across hundreds of Gilded Age board games, which he would return to in the summer of 2014 to study and later submit as his honors thesis project for his American Studies degree. His thesis analyzed the importance of American board games during the Gilded Age in the context of early 20th century America. The History Department of the University of Hawaii at Manoa awarded him the Kuykendall Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Writing - a rare achievement for a junior student.

In 2015, Von interned for the Office of Senator Mazie Hirono in Washington, serving as one of her legislative summer interns. He worked with various legislative assistants focused on immigration, education, and environmental issues. Von also spearheaded and crafted Hawaii-centric Capitol tours for visiting constituents. His internship was funded by the Victory Institute.

Following his Washington, DC experience, Von studied at the International College of Seville in Seville, Spain for the Fall 2015 semester. After being granted exclusive access to the Archives of the Indies - an extremely rare opportunity for an undergraduate researcher to be given by the Spanish Government - Von received generous fundings for his research proposal on the Andrade Brothers, one who imprisoned and one who legally represented Jose Rizal, the National Hero of the Philippines. He sought to analyze the social relationships between Filipinos and Spaniards living under the Colonial Philippines and Imperial Spain. He uncovered various documents about the Andrade Brothers and even traced their descendants in Jaez, but one of his stunning discoveries was that Jose Andrade, the lawyer, retired back to Seville and became a painter. 

In his final semester, Von focused his capstone project for his History and English degrees. He studied depictions of African-Americans in card games during the post-Civil War era America in the context of African-American imagery in US History. His literature focus was the period of his namesake, Charles Dickens. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and with Highest Honors Distinction in the Spring of 2016

AND THEN, OFVON

Von’s travels across Iberia and Northern Africa during his stay in Seville left a profound impact on him as an artist and a researcher. He had come face to face with great works of art - something he never knew would ever be possible coming from a low-income background. He met the Mona Lisa and found Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Paris, celebrated his 22nd birthday inside the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and spent hours at the Prado in Madrid. He learned about surviving renaissance gilding and sculpting methods throughout Southern Spain and Portugal, fabric and textile art in Morocco, and the modern revival of middle age public theater traditions across central Italy. 

Von, for most of his life, had always looked onto the Western perception of artistic standards and history as a scale of his artistic achievements. With a renewed sense of history and history, he realized that his own culture and indigenous background has something to offer into the larger picture of the art world - he came across a staggering amount of indigenous knowledge and traditions from the books in Hamilton Library of UH Manoa, and he realized that these exciting and evocative worlds, neglected and hidden from the main pages of the history, deserve the spotlight.

As he unlearns his Western-bred biases on artistic standards and merits through decolonization, Von has empowered himself by embracing his indigenous roots and celebrating what makes his culture distinct, complex, and unique. 

He launched OFVON early 2015 following the passing of his best friend and maternal grandmother within ten days of each other. Kimberely, his best friend, had always encouraged Von “to put his works out there for the world to see.” His maternal grandmother, Lily, was the subject of his art submission to the 2012 Congressional Art Competition. Lily’s portrait was on display at the US Capitol from the summer of 2012 to the summer of 2013.