American, Philippines

This work, possibly a pillow cover, may have been a souvenir from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Its images depict the Bontoc Igorot people from the Philippines. The U.S. military colonized the Philippines in 1898, and in 1904 a group of Igorot was transported to St. Louis for an exhibition at the fair. Showcased as a constructed village, the group was made to enact their “exoticness” in ceremonial dances and other cultural practices for the consumptive gaze of onlookers. In the centermost panel, U.S. flags fly above the site.

Several Igorot personalities became well known, including Chief Antonio (middle left panel) and Antero Cabrera (known as Balonglong to his people), an orphan who acted as the group’s interpreter. Cabrera and many others went back to Bontoc after being shown at Coney Island and other expositions. In 2000, Cabrera’s granddaughter, Mia Antero Apolinar Abeya, returned to St. Louis to speak at Wydown Middle School, which now sits where the St. Louis World’s Fair was once held. Her message commemorates her grandfather and the people whose culture was exploited.