During my childhood, I attributed my favorite book, "Sang Kancil Counts the Crocodiles," to my Filipino roots, as it was one of the stories my mother often read to me, relating her excitement about the character and the flora and fauna to her life back home.

​

I began working on Sang Kancil shortly after encountering a dead deer mouse in the jungle near my home, while I was residing in Malaysia.

​

Popular Malaysian and Indonesian folklore revere the deer mouse for its ability to overcome obstacles and defeat adversaries, despite its delicate appearance - a character I'd always assumed was exclusively Filipino. Embarrassed and amused by my ignorance of the story's origin, I was determined to create a new representation for the deer mouse.

​

Inspired by Malaysian culture and the methods of artist Franz Marc in terms of color and form, I utilized primary colors to create a luminescent deer mouse emerging from a jungle as a way of honoring how this beloved character transcends my original understanding, belonging not just to my Filipino heritage but to Malaysian culture and beyond.

 

The abstract style mirrors my incomplete knowledge, while the deer mouse's bright emergence represents how discovering its broader cultural significance made the story even more precious to me. To amplify the vibrancy of the piece, I painted the wood panel in watercolor before building color and accentuating details with pen, colored pencils, and acrylic paint.