Artist Duo Alfredo And Isabel Aquilizan Craft Dystopian Cities From Cardboard

The husband-and-wife team of Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, who emigrated from the Philippines to Australia in 2006, address themes of displacement, change, memory and community. Their large-scale installations often reflect their own migratory experiences, while conveying points of exchange and communication that extend beyond borders.

The duo focuses on both individual narratives, as well as on relationships with the “other” in a new environment. They often collaborate with young people and migrants. By making luggage sekking for new residences and community, their work makes us think about the increasing speed of human migration and urban development in the world today.

They tend to use materials and objects that are both abstract and referential such as cardboard boxes, clothes, shoes, blankets, etc. Many of those objects serve as metaphors of everyday human life. The artist couple’s collaborative activities evolved around their family and community, including personal relationships and those they share with other artists. Most of the couple’s pieces are big pieces of artwork that are meant to pass on a message.