The Philippine Village Historical Site is a living monument in Clayton, Missouri, that holds space for respectful engagement with histories of the 1904 World’s Fair and the accurate telling of those histories from Filipino and Indigenous perspectives. In this talk, interdisciplinary artist (and caretaker of the site) Janna Añonuevo Langholz shares how she honors the legacy of her ancestors—and the lives of the people who lived and died in the village—through a series of creative research projects.
Janna Añonuevo Langholz (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans photography, installation, performance, publications, and social engagement. She was born at the site of the 1904 World’s Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri, and lives and works at the former site of the Philippine Village. Her site-specific work and research primarily investigate the period of United States colonization of the Philippines between 1898 and 1946 and how it has shaped the histories and geographies of the Midwest and South. She creates public, participatory projects outside institutional frameworks to expose historical and present-day injustices and reclaim her own heritages. Her work has been featured in Riverfront Times, St. Louis Public Radio, Esquire Philippines, and World Literature Today. She was named best activist in Riverfront Times’ Best of St. Louis 2021. She has unrecognized ancestral contributions in museum collections across the United States and is the caretaker of the Philippine Village Historical Site in Saint. Louis.