101 Graham Street

Kristone Capistrano is a Philippine-born contemporary artist working across an expanded field of drawing, portraiture and video, ranging from works on paper, the moving image and community collaborations. His practice is shaped by the incarnational traditions of Filipino figurative art, approaching the human face as mysterious sites of transcendence.

Kristone Capistrano
101 Graham Street, 2022
Semi-Permanent Video Art Installation, text, audio, collaborative drawings, conversations and shared meals, LED screen 820 x 270 cm, [31.43 min]. 

Named after my family’s first street address in Sydney, 101 Graham Street explores the hopes and dreams of three working-class families who call Parramatta and Western Sydney home. The film documents a series of intimate conversations, collaborative drawings and meals partaken by a migrant family, a group of Westfield retail workers and a family of Parramatta Eels supporters. These stories touch on themes of humanity, warmth, migration and resilience; stories of working-class families who have chosen Parramatta as a place of work and rest.
 
There are certain shared memories lived by those who know this area: the frantic rush to and from Westfield, the endless procession of cars crawling between Parra Rd and the M4, the grease of plastic takeaways on sale, the burn of hot chips and chicken salt. Filmed live and unscripted, this work seeks to capture the participant’s conversations with gritty realism and joyful honesty. The footage is shot from above, consisting of two flat-lay compositions playing simultaneously side-by-side: eating on one side and drawing on the other.

Families in the community 

Kristone worked with three diverse local families who call Parramatta and Western Sydney home to film their candid conversations. Amongst the Anglo, Māori, Filipino and Lebanese heritages families came together and covered topics including What are some of your earliest memories of Parramatta? What Which restaurants, meals, places do you remember visiting often as a family? What made you smile today? What is your family’s story of arriving in Western Syndey? Kristone’s work captures the sense of human connection typified by families whilst they eat, work, play and rest.

About the format and composition 

Shot in situ with natural lighting, the live action video consists of two flat lay images playing simultaneously side-by-side which capture each family in the act of talking, drawing and eating. The long format conversational rhythm of the video is mediated by transitions of singular people consuming a small portion of food or drink. This breaks between conversations creates a restful break between the longer interviews which are captioned at the bottom of the screen.
 

Kristone has exhibited solo and collectively in Australia, Asia and New York. He has been awarded the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, the Royal South Australian Portrait Biennale, the Commended Prize for the Lloyd Rees Youth Award and the Blacktown Local Artist Prize. He has recently completed an Artist-in-Residence at Bundanon Art Museum and is currently preparing for a group show at the newly opened Blank Gallery in Sydney.

His works are held by the he Parramatta City Council, Blacktown City Council, The Lester Group, The Kennedy Art Foundation, King George V International School – Hong Kong, as well as in private collections in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Miami, New York, Manila and Hong Kong.

List of acknowledgments
    
Artist and Designer: 
Kristone Capistrano 

Commissioner: 
City of Parramatta

Parramatta City and PHIVE Research: 
Kristone Capistrano

Research and Western Sydney Community: 
Kristone Capistrano

Videography and Post-production: 
Captured Frames: Cyron Sobrevinas and Adrian Magno

AV Tech Consultants:
Adrian Magno and Lachlan Mitchell

Administration Assistant:
Joy Capistrano

Public Art Project Manager City of Parramatta: 
Suzanne Buljan, Senior Officer, Cultural Projects and Public Art, PHIVE Project