DIKO is a Filipino term for the second eldest brother, thus I am addressed so by my younger sister and cousins, and eventually picked up by my close friends. Like many in my generation, I grew up immersed in foreign popular culture: cartoons, anime, comics, manga, computer games, and toys that usually supplemented tv shows. With all these visuals taken in by a kid in Iloilo City, Philippines, it is no coincidence that my visual aesthetic is rooted in pop culture. It became a habit to draw on notebooks and textbooks my versions of what I have seen .

This was further expressed as I threw myself into art and underwent formal study. During my bachelors degree, I asked why I drew and painted cartoony forms. During my masters, I came to terms with this confusion: I am Filipino but I relate to foreign pop culture more than Philippine culture, and embraced it as my own visual fingerprint. Currently, my drawings exude cartoon mouths, hands, legs, feet, eyes, and belly buttons that have gone through a meat grinder. An acquaintance best described it as "corrupted innocence".

In pursuit of further understanding my art practice and myself, I want to make work that marries my visual aesthetics and Filipino elements. With the help of my family and friends, I am happy to explore this and share my drawings as designs on clothing.