spotlight
Storyteller: anna cruz
by Jessica Berger Pirani
Some Version of Paradise, acrylic on canvas
I used to dream in Tagalog often, but now
not so much.
She’s grateful to have attended a Montessori school where seeds of
book-making and journaling were sown, followed by a “very techni-
—Anna Cruz cal” painting education at UCF. Around that time, Cruz began publish-
ing her own zines: mini-magazines that would bridge elements of her
sketchbook, journal, and storytelling processes.
In February, she got back from a nice long visit to Manila—the fi rst
time she’d been back in years. “I was still surprisingly fl uent...my vo- When reviewing her collection of zines, a progression is evident;
cabulary isn’t as wide anymore, but I’ve still got the accent down.”
almost as the seasons between girl and womanhood, redolent with
blooms of youth and transformation. Precious vignettes blossom to
Her hand is practiced at making tiny icons: glyphs that have become create non-linear stories like those seen in her Image Alphabet, with
GIFs, or Graphic Interchange Format: a lossless format for image fi les glyphs that are ripe for the GIF harvest.
that supports both animated and static images. Tumbling through Cruz’s
online profi le, we fi nd an Image Alphabet reminiscent of a universal Cruz continues to craft her vocabulary, with which subtle subtext
pictorial translator card. Each icon distilled to an essence with playful will be woven through these images that are created with meticulous
detail and fl ights of fancy, transporting viewers to a feeling or a memory. analog animation: her newest labor of love.
Cruz’s story began in Bulacan, Philippines: a province where village
life swelled up around her on weekdays while weekends were spent
visiting her grandparents in urban Manila. The theme of straddling
worlds echoed in her life after her family immigrated to the U.S. when
she was 13.
15
The zines have evolved through their phases, from her parabolic in-
structional manual on How to Open a Durian, followed by an Art
Historical Survey, and most recently, Interview Before the Third—a
treatise by Kanye West, abstracted from a magazine interview and
illustrated by Cruz’s collected images.
www. ARTBORNEMAGAZINE.com