Visual Artist

Born in the Philippines and currently reside in Houston, Texas – multi city muralist and painter, Royal Sumikat is a dynamic human and a futuristic artist. She works with spray paint, gouache, acrylic paints, markers, and Procreate. The images in her works come off as if they’re contradicting each other but are intentionally done to highlight the contrast in colors, ideas, and textures.

Royal’s work is informed by her experiences as an immigrant, community organizer, and priestess – taking inspiration from the spaces afforded by these different identities.

Storytelling and mythology is prevalent in her work as she aims to strengthen the connection she has with her ancestors.

Matt Manalo was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and Minor in Art History at the University of Houston.

Manalo creates work which involves elements of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and printmaking. He uses raw materials, making his practice environmentally conscious as well as understanding the idea of scarcity and abundance. He uses the grid as a foundation for most of his work to tackle geography, cartography, borders, and the idea of displacement while having a constant conversation of how “home” should be defined. Being a first generation immigrant, Manalo discusses his experiences navigating around the physical and social structures of society through his work. As he explores this, home becomes a two-part environment where the artist is split between the Philippines and Texas. The latter sits on the southern border of the US. It is also important to mention that colonization of the Philippines by Spain, Japan and the United States resulted in erasure, colorism and colonial mentality; a frequent topic in Manalo’s work.

His work was recently seen in the exhibition, Carriers: The Body as a Site of Danger and Desire, Blaffer Art Museum in Houston, Texas curated by Tyler Blackwell and Steven Matijcio and he is included in the 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape/ A Possible Horizon curated by Evan Garza and Ryan Dennis. Manalo is the founder of Filipinx Artists of Houston and runs an alternative art space called the Alief Art House.

Kelly Richardson’s recent exhibitions include Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland; the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; the Natural History Museum, Vienna; and a major survey at the Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo. Her work was selected for the Beijing, Busan, Canadian, Gwangju and Montréal biennales, and major moving image exhibitions including the The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC), Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and, in 2009, she was honored as the featured artist at the Americans for the Arts National Arts Awards. She currently lives and works as a visitor on the traditional territory of the WSANEC peoples of the Coast Salish Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada. She is Associate Professor in Visual Arts at the University of Victoria.