Burrard Arts Foundation presents Tagpi-tagpi  by Karl Hipol, an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in drawing and painting. A constellated exploration of the artist’s Filipino heritage, Tagpi-tagpi translates into English as patchy, from the root word Tagpi, meaning patch. The installation combines handwritten Baybayin, pasted manila paper and a centralized painting of an abstracted bahay kubo, a type of pre-colonial Filipino architecture. Baybayin is a pre-colonial script, widely used in Luzon and other parts of the Philippines before being replaced by the Latin alphabet during Spanish colonization.

Through the work, Hipol aims to comprehend a non-western perspective, both practically and metaphorically. The installation aims to gradually rebuild broken Filipino identities, patching lost and loose pages through a reintroduction of Filipino language, Baybayin script, and the reconstruction of traditional architectures.

Exhibition image by Khim Hipol.