Artist Statement

Dinah Gaston is a queer diaspora Filipino/Mestiza maker based on the traditional territory of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7. Dedicated to self-exploration of her mixed race and othering identity. Her focus is around themes of memory, immigration, and displacement. 

Dinah’s work reflects on fragmented childhood memories of immigrating from the Philippines to Canada in the late 1960s and then living on Indigenous reservations in Western Canada. She did not see a true reflection of herself growing up, feeling like an outsider within the two communities around her. Gaston’s work reflects upon notions of family, history, nationality, location, both real and imagined memories. Her work looks at ancestral inheritance, identity and mythology. Dinah has also endured  discrimination, feelings of isolation and invisibility. 

Her artistic journey has been like wading through a silent storm of POC and gender identity to see what is on the other inside. She is slowly embracing intersectionality through painting and textile exploration; quilting ideas, fragments, mark making, dissection, mending, and elasticizing borders.

Recently Gaston’s practise has involved a deep dive into the history and communicative properties of traditional Indigenous Filipino and Muslim textiles of her ancestors. She is committed to engaging with the warp and weft of how she and her community have integrated within the fabric of Canada. Where exactly has she come from? how did she get here and where is she going now that there is a more prominent Filipino presence in Canada?

Mixed race and relations, is anybody winning?