personal statement.

The migrant identity is one that is undergoing a constant state of liminality — ‘the transitional phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant lacks a defined social status.’

This philosophy first came to me at six years old, fresh off the plane from the Philippines and in my very first day of kindergarten in Sydney. ‘Where do you come from?’ was the question that quickly grew to become more ambiguous than what I had initially anticipated. At six years old, I interpreted ‘where I came from’ as the closest, most current locality upon which I call home. Confused at their sudden interest in my new home address, I would reply casually, ‘I live just down the road from the school.’
Clearly this was not the answer they had wanted. And it continued to be so come eight years old, when I moved interstate to Perth and was greeted with the same question by my Year 2 teacher. ‘Where did you come from?’ This time around, I thought a bit harder and a little longer. Last time, the answer they were after was ‘the Philippines’. After all, that is the country where I originated from, prior to moving to Sydney. So when I answered, ‘Sydney’, I assumed my teacher would understand that just like her, Australia is my home now.
But I was wrong again. She shook her head and a little more frantically, she asked again, ‘but where did you come from?’.

From this experience, and especially when I became an Australian citizen, the confusion between ethnic cultural identity and nationality escalated. I seemed to fit somewhere in the grand ambiguous space of the ‘in-between’ — not quite Filipino on its own, but definitely not the typical Australian. Just a weirdly unexpected, but beautifully unique blend of the two.

To me, architecture too, shares this liminal space.

As Christina Na-Heon Cho said in the book, ‘Chasing the Sky — 20 Stories of Women in Architecture’,

Reading this book and the stories of female Australian architects has opened my eyes to discover the true nature of architecture which extends beyond the obvious physicality of the built environment as a product of its work.

To me, architecture is not only an art form and a creative process, but a blend of political, religious, cultural and industrial movements which shape the society upon which they are built. That being said, architecture is both the design of the architect and the future of a place which clients call their home, community, workplace or city. In the liminal space between architecture’s capacity of design and the resulting built environment lies also the capacity for the social change Cho mentioned. Indeed, architecture has the dual capacity to not only represent the cultural origins of the grounds upon which they are built, but also to connect people of all cultural identities. In light of this, I believe strongly that studying the course Bachelor of Architectural Studies at the University of UNSW will help me to carry out my personal vision of uniting all people in spaces which encourage cross-cultural diversity and acceptance.

After fourteen years of primary and secondary education, I have realised that my true passion outside my thirst for academic secular learning lies in literature and the Arts — both the physical process of creation and forming the deeper, philosophical meanings intertwined in my works excite me and motivate me to keep creating. I believe my personal passion for art and design across a range of areas such as graphic design, photography, videography, drawing and model making, will assist me strongly in my pursuit for a creative career in architecture. Moreover, I believe studying architecture will allow me to cease the opportunity to make a positive influence on society and contribute to a sustainable future.

Since moving back to Sydney in late 2016, my desire to pursue architecture heightened. I quenched the thirst of this desire by undertaking work experience at Architectus in 2017, and continuously feeding my curiosity of new art forms and building upon the complexity in which I can utilise each art form I come across. This was especially true in my HSC year, when I took upon myself the challenge to teach myself how to use new programs to create the animated film, ‘Nomadic Dance’, for my HSC Visual Arts Body of Work.

Although the answer to the question ‘Where do you come from?’ remains ambiguous, I have grown to love the very essence of liminality within me and the world around me. The world no longer presents itself to me as black and white, but rather an endless spectrum of gradients and new opportunities. Somewhere in those shades of grey, I believe is the chance to create a brighter, more sustainable future, and I believe architecture can help me achieve that.