Institution
Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT)
Medium
Sculpture
Graduation Year
Class of 2026
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My name is Gabriella Pel, and I am a visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland. My practice engages with conversations involving multicultural identity and the Filipino diaspora. How internalised thoughts on intersectionality, language, migration and religion influence a creative process. My graduate project, People, Place, Prognosis, aimed to commemorate communities, such as the largely Filipino healthcare worker community in Ireland. As I found the conversation on how the second-generation Filipino perspective was underrepresented, generalised through a set career path of healthcare. While it may be true, creative relief is ever present and necessary. In addition, I have taken reference to the native Filipino concept "Ginhawa", translating to relief. The concept is close to, but not the same as, well-being. It may be understood as the subjective experience of freedom, dignity and justice across interconnected areas of a person’s life, extending beyond a physical health towards a broader cultural context. Suggesting that true wellbeing is communal, relational and rooted in harmony with others and nature. Surrounding the ideas on migration, I reference a patterned movement through forms. The installation’s form and structure reference modernist hospital architecture, challenging ideas of minimalism, necessity, and function. As you walk through the space, the objects place you in familiar place, experienced from an unfamiliar perspective. The environment evokes a sense of personal exposure and resilience held in a careful balance. The involvement of a lightbox and imagery portraying the upper body, hangs or sits in varying levels, questioning perceptions of ability. With this work I give access to different viewpoints, however I use said varying levels to disrupt patterns of observation and this represents access for all bodies. As I’ve dealt life with a birth injury on my right arm, the ideas on access and ability have multiple connotations. This is a project that investigates relationships between self and larger societal impacts, what it means to express relief in creative ways within the context of cultural and familial expectation.
