76 • SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE
went viral, people want to cast her in that benevolent magical tribal grandma
kind of archetype and I don’t want to feed into that. She has lived an interest-
ing life, she can be super funny and I admire the focus she has in the midst of
all the attention and commotion. I am inspired by her style and vitality.”
Since that initial trip to visit Whang- Od, Fiddy has returned to the Philip-
pines as part of an urban art project in which she painted buildings in Whang-
Od’s remote village. “This project was conceived by a really talented Manila
artist named Archie Oclos,” she says. “I was introduced to him via Filipino-
American artist Dee Jae Paeste, an early supporter of my work” whose studio,
Kapwa, she works out of when visiting Manila.
“My first time in Buscalan I only stayed one night, just me and my guides,
so it was definitely different to be travelling with this group, meeting so many
talented Filipino artists for the first time,” she gushes of the unique experi-
ence. “It was great to be able to spend more time there, as guests of the vil-
lage who were working on something with the community. We learned many
stories as different artists got a deeper sense of the inhabitants and uses of the
structures to be painted, weaving these stories into the artwork. The children
were curious about us and we left all of the paint with a teacher who wanted to
initiate an art program at the school.”
No matter where she is in the world, though, you can be sure that Ilona Fiddy
is working towards making her ancestors proud and is “constantly questioning,
continuously observing and forever enamoured with my art and community.” Ilona Fiddy On... Being Her Own Boss
“The hardest part is working all the time
or, rather, never switching off entirely. It is
beautiful to be passionate about what I
do for a living, but it also means there’s no
coasting or phoning it in for a paycheck.
Actually caring means you genuinely strive
to give it your all and that can be exhausting.
But it is rewarding to connect to people and
be trusted with this part of their journey.”