About the Exhibition

Tawid Dagat, meaning “to cross the sea” in Filipino, is the title of this exhibition by US-born Filipina artist Nicolei Buendia Gupit. Marking her debut solo exhibition in a major museum, Tawid Dagat features fifteen works created since 2021 that initiate a dialogue on water and climate crises and Filipino migration narratives, conveying the intertwined cultures and circulating resource systems that define our globalized era.

Born in California to Filipino immigrant parents, Gupit draws on her own cross-cultural experiences to explore the memories and journeys of diasporic Filipino families. At the same time, she confronts the impacts of climate change on island communities by illuminating the interconnected realities of environmental degradation, global capitalism, and the Filipino diaspora.

Through the artist’s poetic yet incisive lens, we are invited to cross oceans—both literal and imagined—and connect with our own shifting notions of home while prompting conversations around identity, memory, land, and value.




About the Artist

Nicolei Buendia Gupit is a US-born Filipina artist working across sculpture, video, installation, drawing, and papermaking. Inspired by her family’s migrations between the Philippines and the United States, she investigates immigrant identities, cultural memory, and diasporic experiences while also grappling with water and climate crises, the disillusionment of the American Dream, and the socioeconomic pressures of global capitalism.

Gupit skillfully combines traditional and nontraditional materials—including plant fibers, paper pulp, lottery tickets, and video—employing handcrafted net weaving, papermaking, collage, and casting to create richly multisensory works. Rooted in lived experience, her practice navigates the impact of global forces on personal and collective lives, functioning not only as a creative pursuit but also as a community-focused practice rooted in care and critique.




Supervisor: Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung City Government
Co-organizers: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts × Pier-2 Art Center Artist-in-Residence Program
Collaborator: Manila Economic and Cultural Office, Kaohsiung Extension Office
Curator: Nancy Nien-Cheng Wu
Key Visual Design: Fangzhi Design Fang Zhi-Hong

 

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Opening Reception
 Saturday, September 20, 2025, 2:00 PM


Artist Talk
Saturday, September 20, 2025, 3:30-5:00 PM
Moderator: Nancy Nien-Cheng Wu, Assistant Curator, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
Discussants: Nicolei Buendia Gupit, Artist／Eldrick Yuji Los Baños, Cultural worker and art writer