Pakig‑abi‑abi sa mga Langgam (PsmL) // Being with the Birds is one of the artistic components of my PhD in Artistic Research, Negotiating at the Gates of Flemish Belgian Migrant Integration: Rhetoric, Bodies, and Performance. My doctoral project investigates how migrant precarity is produced, framed, and embodied within Flemish Belgium. It examines how rhetoric around “integration” shapes local/non‑local relations, and how these dynamics manifest in the daily lived experience of migrant bodies.
PsmL emerges from this broader inquiry as a collaborative, durational artistic work developed with fellow migrants who, like myself, navigate precarious social and institutional terrains. The work gathers and performs reflections on the language, attitudes, and actions encountered in Belgian communes — asking how these relational rhetorics affect processes of becoming, belonging, and negotiating one’s place.
Pakig-abi-abi sa mga Langgam (PsmL) // Being with the Birds was a durational collaborative project shaped by five collaborators respectively based in Gent, Lochristi, Brussels, and Leuven. PsmL launched in December 2024 and ran its course until September 2025. In the entry-based, collective, sculptural, and durational piece, the collaborators tried to capture moments in their respective daily lives in (Flemish) Belgium as bodies who are non-European, immigrant, the non-local, the Other. These moments – ignited by the prompt: “What kind of thoughts come through when moments of reminding that you are “not from here” take place?” – were encouraged to be documented through texts, photos, materials – anything that fits in the glass birdhouse structure.
The artist delivered a glass jar to each of the collaborators' residence. Together, the artist and the collaborator created individual birdhouses. The birdhouse was then put inside the glass jar. For five months, the jar lived alongside the collaborator. (See the Performance Score for more idea on how the piece went).
The Collaborators of PsmL were Martha Mayorquin (Lochristi), Lovey Marquez (Leuven), Laura Puska (Gent), and Biniam Hailu (Brussels).
In between the five months, Jay would pay sporadic visits and/or individual meetings with the collaborators to catch up, process, and talk about the ongoing project. Since each Collaborator had varying starting dates, the project timeline was also spread accordingly.
After all Collaborators covered five months living with the birdhouse, I asked them to have a gathering together. The idea was to talk about the entire documentation process - as well as talk about the next phase of the project: thinking together how to "present" PsmL to the public. I prepared a thought-form to guide us in this process.
The durational piece was the foundation for the second artistic pivot of my artistic doctoral project: Paningkamot Pagpadayon ang Paglupad (PPaP) / An Attempt to not Lose Flight.
*PsmL was made possible through the Roger Dillemans Fund.