Excerpt from “Sleepover from the Unfeigned Minds”

WORDS BY Ian Madrigal

​

Slumber Party, also known as pyjama party or a sleepover, is a party commonly held by teenage girls where guests are invited to stay overnight at the home of a friend, sometimes to celebrate birthdays or other special events. The slumber party is often considered a “Rites of Passage”, as a teenager begins to assert independence and develop social connections outside the immediate family.

Beginning in the 90’s, slumber parties have perceived a new trend wherein some parents have began to allow teenage boys and girls to have sleepovers together. While some parents decried the trend, others defended it as a safer alternative to teenage dating outside of the house.

Iya Regalario and Mitch Garcia collectively set this hyper reality, and simulated the enigma of story telling and hallucinogenic party experience over the burning wood they call, sLumber Party Stories, a collection of individual stories reflecting personal interests, while using wood (lumber) as the matter of piece as a common denominator. Beyond the physical properties of wood, it is a material that variously represents time and life.

Iya Regalario tells her stories of philosophical and political contemplation about her identity as a Filipino, and burned the images on wood or drew it with ink on paper. Mitch Garcia uses wood as a base medium that comes into cardboard matchboxes, paper for zines and wood burning it self.

Iya Regalario’s work is a manifestation of her personal thoughts and feelings about media, society, politics and culture as a Filipino. It expresses her contemplation of day-to-day experiences, and exposure to the complexities of what being Filipino or ultimately, what being human entails. As for her artistic process her discipline rests in storytelling and illustration. She started experimenting on wood since working on her first solo exhibition. She considers her work a test of diligence and patience, a process that requires withstanding long hours of burning to create images on wood (pyrography).