IJWBAA [eej-wah] is a Filipino digital artist and the first Filipino recognized in the Techspressionism movement. He is a neologist and the originator of Decolonial Minimalism—an art movement that reclaims minimalism through ancestral memory and cultural reawakening. His works, compiled in two volumes of I Just Wannabe an Artist, have been recognized, officially archived, cataloged, and made available in the collections of the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Museo Reina Sofía, the National Museum of the Philippines, Getty Research Institute, and other prominent cultural institutions worldwide.

Aeta

Aeta

Decolonial Minimalism Founding Work - Indigenous People

Size: 1400 x 1400 pixels

Medium: Digital Art

Artist: IJWBAA

Year: 2025

Description:

In Aeta Family, IJWBAA continues the visual language of decolonial minimalism by portraying one of the Philippines' earliest ethnolinguistic groups through abstract, yet deeply respectful, forms. The composition distills a familial scene into essential geometric shapes—rounded forms for heads, grounded rectangles for bodies, and flowing lines that suggest closeness, care, and continuity. This visual simplification resists stereotypical or anthropological portrayals, choosing instead to emphasize relationality, dignity, and presence.

The Aeta, known for their deep-rooted connection to the land and for surviving centuries of displacement and marginalization, are not exoticized here. Instead, IJWBAA abstracts their representation to resist the historical gaze of colonial documentation and tourism. The family's unity is shown not through facial detail or costume, but through spatial harmony and visual balance—an intentional aesthetic choice that foregrounds kinship and resilience over spectacle.

As part of IJWBAA's broader project on reclaiming indigenous visuality, Aeta Family asserts that Filipino identity cannot be confined to post-colonial tropes. It challenges the viewer to engage with ancestral presence beyond surface representation, aligning with the artist’s vision of honoring indigenous peoples without appropriating or flattening their complexity. In doing so, this work speaks not only of survival but of quiet power, of continuing to exist and love in a world that has tried to erase you.

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Publication:

Art Up Mi Digital (art magazine) Milan italy - Issue 18

"Issue 9 - Citizen of the World, Artwork Gallery (art magazine), Kyiv Ukraine, Sep 30, 2024 - page 15

Interview with IJWBAA, Artwork Gallery, Kyiv Ukraine, June 1 2024 - https://artworkgallery.net/interviews/interview-with-ijwbaa/

I Just Wannabe Be An Artist, Book 2, Page 19, IJWBAA (author), Photobook (publisher) - published January 2024

Goddess Art Magazine Issue XII, Page 11, Germany, Dec 26, 2023

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