Favourable Impressions - Saluhan Collective
MJ Flamiano, Catherine Ortega-Sandow, Kenneth Suico
28 May–14 Jun 2025
Building upon their earlier video work, Dodong and the Dai’s (developed during Saluhan’s Mainit Illusion/Mainit Fantasy commission with Arts House in 2024), Catherine Ortega-Sandow, MJ Flamiano, and Kenneth L. Suico perform a cover of Magellan (1972), a satirical song by Cebuano singer-comedian Yoyoy Villame.
The song narrates a simplified version of the Philippines’ so-called discovery and the colonial impacts of Spanish rule, culminating in the resistance of Indigenous warrior Lapu-Lapu, who defeats Magellan. Revisiting their characters for this new iteration at Blindside, the artists explore contemporary Filipino aesthetics—drawing on karaoke culture, New Wave influences, and the queering of Catholic rituals and iconography.
Acknowledgements:
Videography by Mischa Wang
Recording and mixing by Society Audio
Magellan by Yoyoy Villame and released in 1972 by Kinampay Records
Favourable Impressions is a new video installation by Saluhan Collective. It continues ideas from their earlier video, Dodong and the Dai’s, which they created during their 2024 commission with Arts House, called Mainit Illusion/Mainit Fantasy.
This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.
MJ Flamiano is a visual artist, creative producer, and arts worker of Anglo and Filipino ancestry with roots in Luzon and the Visayas. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Honours) from Monash University Art Design and Architecture. She endeavours to present critical and often playful investigations into sites and their cultural significance. Her present focus is on exploring Filipinx histories and diaspora through solo and community projects in printmaking, video, installation, and text. She currently works at Incinerator Gallery as the Public Arts Officer.
Catherine Ortega-Sandow is a visual artist and researcher currently residing in Naarm/Melbourne. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Sociology) and has undertaken graduate studies in Community and International Development (Gender and Economics), Computer Science, and is currently completing a Graduate Certificate of Visual Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts. Her practice spans installation, sculpture, and text, focusing on challenging epistemological and aesthetic hierarchies. She is the Founder and co-Director of Pagbasa Archive.
Kenneth Suico is an artist residing and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Born in Cebu, Philippines, they jump across a broad range of mediums, employing the modes of photography, video, pop song performance and installation in their practice. The common motifs threaded into Suico’s works are acts of repurposing or appropriating what are considered Western-based mythological narratives and imagery and skewing them into their personal history and cultural superstitions.
Saluhan Collective is the creative collaboration of artists Aida Azin, Catherine Ortega-Sandow, and MJ Flamiano. Since 2019, they have developed a diverse body of work, including exhibitions, events, workshops, community gatherings, and film screenings, in partnership with organisations such as Arts House, SEVENTH, Next Wave, Footscray Community Arts, Testing Grounds, and Siteworks. Their practice is deeply rooted in Filipinx concepts of kinship and reciprocity, with a focus on creating spaces that interweave artistry and community engagement.