The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History with UC Santa Cruz announces Sowing Seeds: Filipino American Stories from the Pajaro Valley, an exhibition from April 12–Aug.4 that shines a light on the vibrant Filipino American life on the Central Coast.
Four years in the making, the exhibition tells the story of Filipino migration and labor in Watsonville and the greater Pajaro Valley of Central California from the 1930s to the present.
The exhibition is the result of a prestigious $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to Watsonville is in the Heart, a public history initiative housed in The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.
“We had a shared vision with our community partners from the beginning of our work together that has only kept our efforts focused,” said Kathleen “Kat” Cruz Gutierrez, assistant professor of history at UCSC and co-principal investigator of Watsonville is in the Heart.
Two Manongs in front of a House, Photograph • Collection: Millares Family
She added, “An exhibition has been part of that vision, and we’re eager to share perspectives on Filipino American agrarian life that come straight from those who lived, worked, struggled, and flourished in the Pajaro Valley.”
Visitors will find oral histories and family heirlooms associated with Watsonville is in the Heart. There will be 52 family objects and 13 oral histories , drawn from 18 family collections — including agricultural tools, family photographs, organizational paperwork, and photo albums.
Watsonville is in the Heart also invited eight artists to participate, all of whom have worked with or around the importance of archives, memory, and community.
Johanna Poethig and Minerva Amistoso will present works of art about the experiences of the elderly manong and manang generation.
Ruth Tabancay, an artist who grew up in the Pajaro Valley, is creating a new work of art especially for the exhibition, highlighting the experiences of young Filipinas and performing femininity.
Johanna Poethig, Manong Freddy, 2010, Handcasted Plate with Decals • Collection: Johanna Poethig
Binh Danh, Sandra Lucille, Jenifer Wofford, Ant Lorenzo, and Connie Zheng were invited to work with community members to produce works of art that investigate their collections and family histories.
The Watsonville is in the Heart team previously worked closely with the Pajaro Valley’s Filipino American community to build a digital archive, said Christina Ayson Plank, PhD candidate in Visual Studies at UCSC and head curator of Watsonville is in the Heart.
“We’ve gone to their homes and heard stories about their parents, family friends, and relatives that are memorialized through the objects they’ve kept and preserved,” Ayson-Plank said.
Alice Wiggins, “The Beginning,” c. 1942, Photograph • Collection: Mariano Family
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The museum is at 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Hours are: Thursday–Sunday, 12–6 p.m.
TOP PHOTO: Asuncion Family Picnic at Sunset Beach, c. 1953-4, Photograph • Collection: Asuncion Family