Marysol A. Damo comes from a generation of first-born Filipino-Americans, and was raised on Oahu. She was exposed to culture of the sugarcane plantation though growing up in Ewa Beach in the 1980s. Her work is inspired by nostalgic icons of her childhood that tells the story of personal growth. Her work has been called “modern folk art with personal narrative.” Her early mixed media works on wood are rooted by her family tradition in Filipino woodworking. Her practice has evolved into “testing paper.”

Besides being Filipino-American Hawaii-ano (Ilokano from Hawaii), her influences include the Blue Scholars, White Collar, Avatar: The Last Airbender and an urban-style set of tarot cards.

My Core, Integrity & Journey 2018
24”x48” Mixed Media on Wood
Not For Sale 

My Core, Integrity & Journey is about growing up Filipino-American and struggling between a set of conservative Catholic family values and wanting to embrace a modern American culture. I started this piece to help resolve the heaviest guilt I had ever felt in my life as I watched my mother move into her advanced phases of Alzheimer’s disease. I just couldn’t honor my mother’s wishes to be her caretaker because it meant I would have to give up a career, the chances to find romantic love and start my own family. This piece centers on trying to recover from failing my mom, finding some grounding and some kind of holy spirit.

Self-Titled (Debut) 2018
18”D Carved Plywood
Not For Sale 

My name is “Mar-y-sol” which means sea and sun. However, I’m sure my mother’s true intent for my name was to be: the sun of the Virgin Mary. This piece is about my relationship with my mom, the tears she cried and the love she had for me (her favorite) as her own grounding. This is me visualizing our connection, seeking balance, wealth (not necessarily monetary) and strength of her memory and spirit as I painfully watched her decline. The carved imagery is an interplay of the ocean (the ocean represents the liquid search for a new favorite person) and the sun, feminine and the masculine, mother and daughter.

Commodification Of The Immigrant Dream In Technicolor 2020
8”x8” Mixed Media on Wood
$1,800.-- 

She’s the “Golden Girl with the Golden Pineapple.” I left Hawaii in 2010 to pursue my career. I managed to get-by by staying focused on my goals of “making it” but over time I grew a void that my homesickness burned in my stomach. I imagined this parallel storyline in the Hawaii plantation era and created this from old postcards I found in my Grandmother’s old bedroom.

Definitions of Her Series, 2022
12”x12” Mixed Media on paper

10 prints. 10 stories. These four compositions come from a 10-part series, expressing states and situations of Her. This direction envisions the resilience of important “paperwork,” (i.e. birth certificates, naturalization papers) and how paper, thought to be so delicate, can evolve, age and weather, making what would necessarily be flat, have its own unique and subtle dimensionality. She represents infinite circular evolution as she navigates where she’s meant to be. She is whomever you want to see, but she is supposed to give off Virgin Mary vibes, since she is the greatest female power I’ve ever known. This series is an experiment in the use of the Powers of 10.

Pragmatic Field, 2022
#4 of Definitions of Her Series
12”x12” Mixed Media on paper
Not For Sale

She approaches her journey by dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. The sword plant is centering, connecting her core to the heavens. If a blessing were to come from above, as she has prayed, she would want it to travel by the path laid in steps 1through 10. # like a celestial map that has survived through tropical humidity.

She Is The Energy, 2022
#3 of Definitions of Her Series
12”x12” Mixed Media on paper
Not For Sale

Energy is not a solid form. She vibrates with subtlety. She is conservative, universally loving, is easy to like. She is reserved for my longest and dearest friend, Ruby Marcelo. She is my muse.

Where The Water Meets The Sun, 2022
#2 of Definitions of Her Series
12”x12” Mixed Media on paper
Not For Sale

Solid, fun, early 1990’s vibes. This is Her if she were on the summer season of Saved By The Bell, working at Malibu Sands.

She Is The Light, 2022
#1 of Definitions of Her Series
12”x12” Mixed Media on paper
Not For Sale

Just at the end of the world and being absolutely nothing, She is the light. Imagine you’ve just gotten beat up celestially, but you need to get up for something essential like needing to use the bathroom. She’s a protagonist in any Star Wars story. Is she desolving or becoming? She’s in an awkward transitional state. This is where zero and ten meet in the infinite circular.