Born in the Philippines and grew up in England, London-based interdisciplinary artist, Justin Carlo Villamor Rivera, redefines queerness through tribal aestheticism and pre-colonial ideas on gender and society. Through their research, they found a pre-colonial definition for the word queer and it has become the catalyst to their creative practice . Bakla’ (simply translated as queer in modern Tagalog) is rooted from Baybayin (‘BA’ ᜊ, ‘KA’ ᜃ, ‘LA’ ᜎ), an indigenous writing system from the Philippines. ‘BA’ means female, ‘LA’ means male, and ‘KA’ means unity or freedom. In essence, being queer is the unity and liberation of the sexes. When the word 'Bakla' is reversed, you get the word "LAKABA" or "lakbay" (journey). Their  creative process is meditative and an inward journey to wholeness. 

With weaving as a starting point, a technique that is innately ancestral, Villamor Rivera demonstrates how this craft has been a tool to pass down knowledge and traditions.  Done through storytelling expressed through fashion, film, digital and 3d outcomes, Villamor Rivera reimagines a world where indigenous tribes were left untouched to advance. They wonder what we could be wearing now, what our society would look like, how different our relationship to nature would be, and what kind of technology we would have innovated. 

Their creative practice surrounds on the idea of Indigenous Futurism,  particularly in the conservation of indigenous cultures in a digitising world, and imagining an alternative future guided by indigenous perspectives.