Zebv Diez

Biography

Zebv Diez is a Filipino Canadian Toronto-based digital artist, animator and painter. An OCAD University graduate who studied animation and digital painting. Informed by his education, his work explores the intricate relationships of identity and navigating predominant western spaces as an Asian Minority. Born in the Philippines, he further uses his identity as an immigrant to produce idealized spaces to portray the experiences of marginalized bodies and the second- generation Asian diaspora. The work heavily relies on Asian aesthetics within a high-gloss 3D environment to convey the struggles of generational trauma, fetishization, assimilation and the othering of ethnic bodies.

LINKS

Website

Panliligaw
Zebv Diez

These two-part animations explore the notion of and reinvents our perception of ‘artifacts’, often immigrants experiencing diaspora seemingly clinging on to objects for some semblance of familiarity, albeit nostalgia or the warmth of familial touch rooted in culture. A connecting point resonating from material objects. The exploration of these objects within the animations highlights and transforms these everyday objects as ‘artifacts’, changing the mundane into a catalyst or a connection to a time period piece of heritage. The group title, Panliligaw or courtship, depicts everyday modern objects and speaks to their history and heritage during the Spanish colonial Philippines. The use of gold and pearls to embellish these objects and ties them to this certain period of history.

Abaniko

Animation, Cinema4D, 2:30, 2023

This animation, Abaniko or Fan, depicts an object embellished in gold. To archive this object and place it within a digital space to speak about this specific period of my Filipino history. Not only to speak about this Spanish colonialism within this period but also the effects of Catholicism brought on by Spaniards. Whereas the conservative catholic culture required women to maintain modesty or “purity”, the fan became a form of expression and unity between two people but also the freedom for women to have ownership over one’s body and choices.

Harana

Animation, Cinema4D, 2:30, 2024

This animation portrays the courtship in Filipino history, Harana, or the act of serenading was a romantic gesture among Filipinos. Influenced by Spaniards during colonialism, Harana was the act of singing outside the desired person’s home often at night by a windowsill or balcony, sung through with a guitar. It’s this spectacle of romanticism that I find lost in comparison to western society. This grand gesture of romance and love depicts the softer side of Filipinos. Now thinking of everyday Filipinos, adjectives often used to describe them are often rooted in labor — “honest” or “hard working”, while admirable qualities, in a way it diminishes people into a working unit, often exploited. This second animation is a work of love, at a most literal sense depicting people as pearls, giving birth and speaking to their humanity.