2015-2017: Chewang chi Biyeg

Chewang chi Biyeg, River of Life is a co-created tapestry that was begun by weavers in Mabilong and completed by Kalingafornia Laga apprentice weavers. It tells the story of two parallel struggles against displacement that simultaneously occured in Kalinga and San Francisco.

In the 1960s-80s, the indigenous people of Kalinga were victorious in their resistance against the planned dam project of the Chico River in the Cordilleran Region of the Philippines. Meanwhile, in San Francisco in 1977, the aging residents of the International Hotel—many of whom were low-income Filipino Manongs—faced and lost the battle in a historic eviction spurred on by urban renewal.

In the creation of this tapestry, we held free weaving workshops from 2015-2017. They were attended by over 100 individuals, of all ages, genders, and backgrounds, at the International Hotel Manilatown Center, the very site where the historic hotel was rebuilt and rose again in 2005.

According to Creative Work Fund director, Frances Phillips, who supported our work so ardently, “the 2017 Creative Work Fund grants reflect several strong themes: anxiety about gentrification and displacement in Bay Area communities; the challenge of maintaining cultural knowledge in diasporic communities; and an honoring of legacy…”

Chewang chi Biyeg was completed and unveiled on August 4, 2017 during Manilatown Heritage Foundation's commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the I-Hotel Eviction.