call me el, elo, or els!
i’m a queer Filipino-American interdisciplinary artist, organizer, and kayak instructor! i’m passionate about climate and water justice, healing justice, and abolition. i graduated from the Independent Publishing Resource Center’s Art Book Portfolio Program in 2025, and now you can find me selling and showcasing art books, zines, and prints at local fairs and festivals. i’m interested in the intersection of the natural, the political, and the artistic – creating art not just as a means of personal healing or an expressive outlet, but a practice that can (and has) shaped our communities and world. at countercurrent press, we embrace mess and reject perfection. the revolution requires that we get our hands dirty.
countercurrents
REsistance. momentum. force
just as waters flow naturally with their currents, the presence of countercurrents are just as prevalent and longstanding. pushing against dominant narratives is an inherent part of the earth and of ourselves. we must not just be the water that flows, but the winds that push it. dominant systems, such as whiteness, neocolonization, binaries, and punishment flow freely when accepted and unchallenged. we resist these narratives through art and through action.
Countercurrent press is a personal collection and archive of some of my work, but more than that, I want it to be a communal practice for artists, organizers, friends, and lovers to create things that are life-sustaining and world-building. It’s a space for political art gatherings and organizing opportunities that build capacity for the road ahead.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️In this house we are PRO ART! PRO COMMUNITY! PRO ABOLITION! in this house we are ANTI POLICING! ANTI PERFECTION! ANTI APATHY! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
projects & programs
officina stamperia del notaio residency. october 2025. tusa, italy.
3 week residency in tusa, sicily where i produced 3 unique editions of tusa, where do you go to cry? This book is comprised of monotype prints and uses japanese stab binding.
Aviário studio residency. september, 2025. Ferreira do Zêzere, portugal.
2 week residency where i produced 6 copies of ONE open palm; one closed fist, a screen-printed, block-printed, double-sided poetry and art book.
iprc art book portfolio prgram. 2024 – 2025. portland, or.
a ninth month program exploring art books through different print techniques including letterpress, screenprinting, and risograph printing. i produced over 10 zines and art books throughout the program, including in a dream you saw me and half return.
monotype print workshop. may 2025. make fun studios, portland, or
a three-hour monotype print workshop i led which covered basic techniques and materials and explored different textures and layering.
black whole press residency. april – october 2026. portland, or.
check out my other projects!
mosquito fleet pdx
water justice & kayaking collective
mangrove magazine
qtbipoc arts & abolition publication