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Title
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Maia Cruz Palileo
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Description
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Maia Cruz Palileo was born in 1979 in Chicago, Illinois. Their parents immigrated to the US from the Philippines and Palileo’s childhood included plentiful stories from family of their homeland and immigration experience. After earning a BA in Studio Art from Mount Holyoke College, Palileo went on to receive an MFA in Sculpture from Brooklyn College (“Maia Cruz Palileo - Biography” 2025). In 2017, Palileo spent time at the Newberry Library in Chicago researching archives pertaining to Filipino history. In particular, Dean C. Worcester’s photographic archive stood out the most. An opponent of Philippine independence and fervid colonialist, Worcester captured his Filipino subjects in dehumanizing manners in an effort to spread colonialist ideas regarding the Philippine-American War (Deland 2019) .
In their work, Palileo aims to release the Filipino subjects of the archive from this colonial lens and place them in new unstructured environments where they are not categorized or subjected to degradation. The dream-like quality of their pieces paints the subjects’ stories with more depth than previously allowed (“Maia Cruz Palileo” 2022).
Palileo’s 2019 exhibition “All The While I Thought You Had Received This,” was inspired by this aim alongside the memories of their family. The artwork shown above, “They Dreamed in English,” was included in this exhibition and was created using oil on canvas. We see a classroom in the painting with benches on one side. There are reflections of people on the floor and silhouettes on the blackboard, but we do not see them sitting on the benches. This piece is in reference to the colonization technique of weaponizing education to assimilate children (Deland 2019). The technique of layering colorful paints is reminiscent of the memories that are being portrayed, each leaving a strong mark on the canvas and building on top of each other. Palileo’s work takes on a physical embodiment of the combination of stories from the colonizer context and those passed down by Filipinos to their families about their grueling experiences (“Maia Cruz Palileo - Artist - David Kordansky Gallery” 2023).
Bibliography:
“Maia Cruz Palileo - Biography.” 2025. Moniquemeloche. 2025. https://www.moniquemeloche.com/artists/39-maia-cruz-palileo/biography/.
DeLand, Lauren. 2019. “Maia Cruz Palileo.” Art in America 107 (5): 102–3. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=800ec7e6-fc94-30f5-a10b-7bd2d43a29fb.
“Maia Cruz Palileo.” 2022. Maia Cruz Palileo. 2022. https://www.maiacruzpalileo.com/about.
“Maia Cruz Palileo - Artist - David Kordansky Gallery.” 2023. Davidkordanskygallery.com. 2023. https://www.davidkordanskygallery.com/artist/maia-cruz-palileo.
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Alternative Title
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They Dreamed in English
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Source
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Artist Image:
“Maia Cruz Palileo.” 2022. Maia Cruz Palileo. 2022. https://www.maiacruzpalileo.com/about.
Artwork Image:
“Maia Cruz Palileo, They Dreamed in English, 2018.” 2018. Moniquemeloche. 2018. https://www.moniquemeloche.com/exhibitions/21/works/artworks-14101-maia-cruz-palileo-they-dreamed-in-english-2018/.
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Name
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Zainab Ropri
