“HELMET TO HELMET”
Astria Suparak and Caroline Washington
Collage, 8 x 10 inches
2021
Commissioned by Seen journal (BlackStar Festival)
https://bit.ly/helmet-to-helmet
A collage of the Philippine salakót (roughly translates from Tagalog to “native helmet”); how it was worn by Filipinos and Spaniards serving in the occupying Spanish army, then adapted into the pith helmet; and “So prolifically deployed by every white colonial power, the Asian-descended pith helmet became a symbol of colonialism itself” (Suparak).
Source imagery from historical illustrations, photographs, prints, and artifacts from the early 1700s to the 20th century.
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This collage was made to accompany Suparak’s essay “SEEDY SPACE PORTS AND COLONY PLANETS: Asian Conical Hats in Cinematic Dystopias,” and is part of her ongoing research project, Asian futures, without Asians.
Astria Suparak 