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JP / Jason Pereira
Tā Vā: a prism of time through space
May 17 - June 14
Gallery hours Friday & Saturday from 11 - 4pm
Closing event June 14
Pilele Projects is honored to present this new exhibition of work by JP / Jason Pereira. The show begins in response to a portrait series titled Future Ancestors by art collective Art25: Art in the 25th century. Art25 gifted Pilele Projects and our community 13 large scale offprints from the original exhibition of the series, shown at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the winter of 2020-2021, inviting us to translate and transform the materials and spirit of the original series into new work. JP selected one of the portraits to weave into his own form of self-portrait as Future Ancestor. The resulting work is presented here as Tā Vā Woven (2025), which physically weaves together one of the photographs from Future Ancestors with a painting of the Milky Way galaxy that JP made on a repurposed and repaired polyethylene tarp.
The spirit of repurposing and reusing materials is central to the piece and carries forward the intentions of Art25’s gift. The panel that it is mounted on is also twice repurposed; first it served to protect the windows at PIEAM during the 2020 George Floyd protests, later it became a graffiti panel which JP painted in response to vandalism of one of the Yapese money stones in PIEAM’s garden. The weaving was done by hand and in community at the opening of the show, with the vertical strips of the photograph left as an unfinished fringe at the base of the panel. This is in keeping with traditional Samoan forms of mat weaving, where the fringe represents the future, the work that remains to be done, and the connections that remain to be made.
Across the gallery, facing back at Tā Vā Woven, are three more portraits drawn from earlier moments in JP’s trajectory as an artist. The central piece, Grace & Space Mirror Column (2024), is a septagonal column of mirrors, which matches JP’s physical height. Each mirror is painted with symbols and anecdotes from different phases of the his life, with the exception of the mirror facing across the gallery which remains clear. To each side of Grace & Space Mirror Column, mounted on a thin shelf on the back wall are two portraits done in charcoal and acrylic on panel, titled Tamaiti Tautua - Koko and Tamaiti Tautua - Kerisiano, both from 2019. The immaculate precision of the portraits combined with the tight graphic orange and blue two-tone of the words Tamaiti Tautua produce an extraordinary dimensionalizing effect. The children in the portraits smile deeply in their traditional regalia, reminding us of the cycles that link all past, present, and future. Tamaiti Tautua means “the children who serve” or are in service to the community.
Bridging the works on each side of the gallery, JP’s The Long Hard Way (2024), hangs from the ceiling. Originally commissioned for a City of Long Beach Health & Human Services project, the painting represents the struggles of Pacific Islander communities as they strive toward a better future. Each plus sign marks another step forward in the long hard way. It is a story of resilience and commitment.
Email hafa@pileleprojects.org
RECENT
Mariquita Davis, "Såhi Puti'on Velasco, Elijah Dominguez-Velasco, Taotao Chålan Pågo & Tutuhan,
Manggåfa' Tin yan Kådi" (2021), inkjet print on archival paper (© Mariquita Davis; image courtesy of the artist)
Taotao’mona Portraits: Mali’e Inetnon
March 29–May 10
Closing Reception May 10, 5–8 p.m.
Taotao’mona Portraits: Mali’e Inetnon is a photography exhibition by Pilele Projects co-founder Mariquita "Micki" Davis. She describes a Taotao’mona Portrait as an image that weaves Chamoru cosmology into the language of portraiture. Featuring Matao/Chamoru artists and cultural practitioners within their ancestral lands, these works blur the line between subject and setting. The surrounding land and waterscapes are as integral to the portraits as the individuals themselves, softening the conventional distinctions between landscape and portrait and inviting a more profound, embodied sense of place.
Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday 11–4 p.m.
Available for appointments on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.
Email hafa@pileleprojects.org
Mariquita Davis, Detail of "Jeremy N.C. Cepeda, Taotao Sinahå-ña (Sinajana) Manggåfa' Alabådu, CHele’, Golo, Karabáo" (2021),
inkjet print on archival paper (© Mariquita Davis; image courtesy of the artist)
PROJECTS
October 14, 2023
New Nuebu Call Back
February 24 - April 30, 2024
Queer Theirstories of Polynesia
May 12 - July 28, 2024
September 28 - Dec 7, 2024
March 29–May 10
VISIT
Pilele Projects3307A West Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90018
Gallery hours exhibition dependent.
See Current
Appointments can be made by email or direct message on our Instagram page.
hafa@pileleprojects.org
Los Angeles, CA 90018
Gallery hours exhibition dependent.
See Current
Appointments can be made by email or direct message on our Instagram page.
hafa@pileleprojects.org
ABOUT
Founded by Mariquita “Micki” Davis and Edward Sterrett, Pilele Projects is an exhibition and workshop space dedicated to supporting projects by Pasifika artists in Southern California. We are working towards developing grant funded residencies for artists, cultural practitioners, curators, and scholars emerging from and focused on Pacific Island cultures and their diasporas.
Pilele Projects takes its name from the creative director’s Chamoru Grandfather who ran a Mom and Pop store and Laundro-mat in post-war Guam. The store was beloved in the village for being more than a convenience. It was a community center, a place for ceremonies, and a support for local artisans.
Pilele Projects takes its name from the creative director’s Chamoru Grandfather who ran a Mom and Pop store and Laundro-mat in post-war Guam. The store was beloved in the village for being more than a convenience. It was a community center, a place for ceremonies, and a support for local artisans.