Maria Dumlao is a Philippine-born artist and educator based in Philadelphia. For her exhibition at PHL airport, Dumlao combines images from pop culture, historical events, and mythic folklore to suggest alternatives to existing colonial narratives. At first glance, the work might easily be consumed as a pastoral, albeit vivid, landscape. On closer examination, you realize that the characters and plot have been carefully constructed; colors are manipulated to render certain elements visible or invisible when viewed through a red, green, or blue lens.

The imagery presented is full of contradictions. Past meets present when a Frankenpine (a cell phone tower disguised as a tree) is set behind a colonial settler sitting by a river. Multiple SPAM cans are assembled to form a pineapple which hovers over a bison walking through the Schuylkill woods. Dumlao also recognizes that the language used to describe natural objects affects how they are perceived— traveler vs. migrant, exotic vs. invasive, expat vs. immigrant. 

By using photography, a medium originally considered to be objectively truthful, to construct her collages, there’s an assumption that the scene presented is historically accurate. However, defining “truth” is a slippery task. “Everything we see is mediated,” says Dumlao. “We’re constantly given things and we just accept it. Even this show. But you have the choice to walk up and do this, or not.”