Margery Cercado in the Artist Studio

Artist's Statement

As a descendant of Filipino farmers and fisherman, I have always had a profound connection to nature. Some of my earliest memories derive from childhood visits to my motherlands of Capiz and Iloilo. In the barangay, sun soaked and covered in mosquito bites, I became deeply bonded with both my large maternal and paternal extended families, as well as my ancestral homes and the lands they belong to: one bordered by the vast Pacific Ocean and the other surrounded by rice paddies and lush farmland. These journeys left an everlasting impression and this influence can be found throughout my art practice. 

With work emphasizing materiality in found objects and mediums like clay, textile, stone, wood and metal, I examine identity, lineage, dichotomy, one’s surroundings in both the physical and intangible sense, and the cultural connections we hold through relation to our land environments and the beings that coexist within it. I believe to understand ourselves we must not only acknowledge our places of origins and current surroundings, but also prioritize our bonds with nature as deep soul work. 

My very process-oriented and often labor-intensive practice excavates the idea of Diasporic Longing in an attempt to make sense of the self and the spaces one occupies. I am interested in the idea of “home” as perpetually mutable and narrated in the process of “becoming”.  

I create sculptural and installation work that tends to use visual imagery, history and natural materials associated with The Philippines and the Philippine Diaspora as a means of connection as a diasporic Filipinx settler in the United States. 

I believe in the power of community, care and kapwa, the Philippine idea of a shared identity or “usness”. The emphasis of a collective society and communal spirit is important to my work as both a ceramics educator and a craft-based artist, as in both regards knowledge is shared from one to another and nourished through togetherness. 

About the Artist

Margery Cercado (b. 1991) is a queer, second-generation Filipinx artist and educator based in Seattle, the Indigenous land of the Duwamish. Her parents immigrated to the United States from the areas of Capiz and Iloilo in The Philippines. Though born and raised within and just outside of Seattle, her identity was formed by her family’s voyages back to the motherland.  

Her practice seeks to understand oneself as a diasporic individual & explores themes such as colonization, labor & community through disciplines like sculpture and installation. Emphasizing natural materials, found objects and imagery associated The Philippines, Margery’s often craft-based, process-heavy work acknowledges the often-forgotten labor of one’s hands in creation and storytelling, specifically through the concept of Diasporic Longing. 

She initially trained in production pottery at Bruning Pottery in Snohomish before becoming a ceramics instructor and studio assistant at Yu Tang Ceramics in Fremont. Her work has been shown in Seattle and Philadelphia, and can be found in the permanent collection of Soho House Portland. Recently, she received her MFA from the Low-Residency program at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She lives, teaches and makes in Seattle. 

Learn more about her work on Instagram @margerymakes.