Hi, I'm Isis

I'm a Filipino-American artist from San Francisco, now based in Phoenix. My work is rooted in the memories, people, and everyday details that shaped my idea of homeā€”Filipino food, family gatherings, music, Catholic imagery, soap operas, and the warmth of growing up surrounded by women.

Where Home Starts šŸŒ‰

I was born and raised in San Francisco ā€” 415! I grew up in a big Filipino family, mostly surrounded by women: my grandma, my mom, my sisters, my aunties, cousins who were basically siblings, and family friends who were just automatically aunties and uncles.

My mom was a young first-gen Filipina figuring life out, so my grandma was a huge part of raising me. And honestly, growing up in the City was a whole experience. BART, MUNI, Catholic school, Filipino food, music blasting in the house, teleseryes playing in the background, and somebody's auntie always knowing everybody's business. šŸ˜‚

A lot of those little things are what I think about when I think of home now. The food, the noise, the people, the chaos, the love ā€” all of it. That's the stuff that finds its way into my work.

The Other Side of Me

Being mixed has always been a little complicated for me. I grew up mostly on my Filipino side, so Filipino culture was never something I had to search for ā€” it was just home. But being Black felt different. I was darker than a lot of my cousins, saw the way colorism showed up in Filipino TV and beauty culture, and spent a lot of time wondering where I fit in.

I didn't always feel ā€œBlack enough,ā€ but I also knew I couldn't separate that part of myself from who I was. As I've gotten older, I've realized I don't have to pick a side. Both parts of me can exist at the same time, and that tension, curiosity, and figuring-it-out energy has become part of how I make sense of my work.

Why I Make? šŸ§

I actually found my way back to art during a time when I felt pretty lost. I had stopped drawing for a while, and then life changed in a way that forced me to slow down and figure out what I actually wanted.

So I started drawing again.

What started as something I did to get out of my head slowly became something much bigger. I started paying attention to the memories I kept coming back to ā€” my family, growing up in the Bay, Filipino culture, being mixed, and all the little things that made home feel like home.

Now, I'm interested in making work that feels like a memory. Something familiar, warm, maybe a little bittersweet. The kind of thing that makes you stop and think, damn, I remember that.

What I MakešŸ¤“

My work moves between fine art, digital illustration, and collaborative projects. I'm especially interested in working with brands, artists, sports organizations, and other creative teams to bring artwork into spaces outside the traditional gallery.

Fine art Ā· Digital illustration Ā· Brand collaborations Ā· Sports & entertainment Ā· Commissions Ā· Live painting Ā· Exhibitions

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