The Artist

Until he was a teenager, Bhen Alan lived in the Philippines before settling in the United States. He grew up immersed in Filipino cultural traditions and folk arts such as weaving, sewing, decorative objects, costume making, dancing, and chanting. Moving from one country to another, he was introduced to painting and utilized it as a form of therapy from homesickness. He pursued his bachelor's degree in painting at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and received his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. He practices interdisciplinary work by borrowing from his history as a ballroom dancer, folk dancer, and weaver. In his art practice and life as an immigrant, he expands the critique in the visibility of marginalized minorities by focusing on diasporic Filipino experiences. Through his advocacy for the visibility of Filipino culture through the arts in the U.S., he hopes to transcend the social and cultural differences between immigrants and locals; and to create spaces and opportunities to connect more as human beings.