Through My Father's Eyes Ends Tour in Philadelphia
by Heather Foster

5/1/05

Philadelphia, PA —Arriving in California in 1928 among a wave of Filipino immigrants, Ricardo Alvarado became a janitor, a houseboy, and even a U.S. soldier by the time he was 30 years old. After serving in the South Pacific during World War II, Alvarado made his home in San Francisco and was soon using his camera to record the special celebrations and daily rituals of Filipino Americans living in the Bay area. For 20 years, Alvarado was the unofficial archivist of the community, capturing street scenes, beauty pageants, cock fights, agricultural work, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and any other event where people gathered to work or play, celebrate or mourn. Alvarado died in 1976 before publishing his nearly 3,000 rare and beautiful photographs. Years later, Alvarado's daughter, Janet, discovered her father's collection of photographs and immediately recognized their cultural significance. In an effort to preserve and share her father's artistic legacy, Janet established The Alvarado Project which has enabled people across the country to learn what life was like for Filipino immigrants in the mid-20th century.

In 2003, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) put Alvarado's impressive collection on the road with Through My Father's Eyes: The Filipino American Photographs of Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado (1914-1976). The Free Library in Philadelphia is the latest stop for this historically important assemblage of images. The Filipino Executive Council of Greater Philadelphia and the Asian American Women's Coalition (AAWC) "worked with unflagging energy" to bring the exhibition to Philadelphia declares SITES project director Jeff Thompson. "Alvarado's work is a rare view of the cultural paths" that many Asian Americans share to different degrees, he mused. According to Jenny Wong, president of AAWC, the exhibition is a "testimony to the many accomplishments and contributions that the Filipino community has made to the country. They are a vibrant force in our lives and will continue to contribute their vitality, culture, and family values to futures generations of Americans."

Excitement was high at the exhibition's official opening, not only because of the noteworthy subject matter, but also because the display was the first Smithsonian exhibition ever on view in the city's library system. Among a host of special guests in attendance were Melita Sta. Maria-Tomeczek, the deputy consul general from the Philippine consulate in New York, and AAWC co-founder Judge Ida Chen. Chen and her tireless network of volunteers organized an array of educational programs to complement Through My Father's Eyes. This month the Free Library will present a series of memorable documentaries, including "Second Class Veterans," a poignant film about the experiences of Filipino American soldiers. A poetry festival, with workshops and readings from Filipino American poets, is also planned for late May and early June.

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