Meet the On-line Artist // Shara Francisco

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Specifically, we’d love to know about your background.

Hi, my name is Shara Francisco. I’m an artist currently based in Laguna and Manila, Philippines. I also work as a designer focusing in behavioral design and user experience, which significantly influences my creative practice as an artist. Additionally, I am a member and the creative director of 98B Collaboratory, an artist-run space located in Escolta, Manila.

How would you describe your artistic practice?

I initially focused solely on painting, though I wasn’t formally trained. Over the past two years, I’ve gradually shifted from primarily traditional mediums to incorporating digital tools into my work. Recently, I’ve started exploring visual programming and its experiential aspects in live performances, especially since working with sound and media practitioners.

My practice is heavily influenced by my experience in a design consultancy, particularly in analysing cognitive patterns for behavioral and social interventions related to user experience, communications, or systems design; which is very much service- and user-oriented. The recurring theme for me in that experience was pattern recognition, and as an artist, I became more interested in applying that theme to medium itself, specifically focusing on translating, replicating, or converting the digital to the tactile, and vice versa. My practice became more process-based, and I wanted my work to focus more on analysing my own observations of possible connections between mediums to generate a visual pattern or texture.

What is your methodology or process for creating a new project?

I try to maintain an archive across various platforms, which includes photos, audio recordings, 3D and texture scans, case studies, etc., anything that interests me in both content and medium. I also jot down raw ideas in notebooks to revisit from time to time when an opportunity to create them arises. I’d describe my process to be chaotically structured, with a tendency to overplan but end up deviating from the original concept. However, I’ve come to view these deviations as iterations and potential connections to future projects.

I also focus on exploring the capabilities of the digital program I use when starting a project, experimenting with techniques to achieve specific textures or visual outcomes. And when collaborating with other artists, particularly in sound art, I try to immerse myself in their work to visualise the textures I hear.

Tell us about the project you are working during your online residency at GlogauAIR

My residency project focuses on exploring and expanding the mediums I’ve been working with, utilising sensory mapping to gather documentation materials as references for generative visuals. This project takes place within the cultural and historical First United Building in Escolta, Manila, with particular emphasis on its pocket spaces. The goal is to hopefully capture a transient moment that the senses provide within these spaces and to generate a moving texture or pattern.

How do you connect your work in relation with the digital and the technological with the physical, tactile and more analogic?

I connect my work by making the reference go through both the digital and physical realms. When producing video or live visuals, I try to incorporate organic elements and I want the final output to not be clean or perfect, so these can be unexpected movements, glitches, or blurriness. For painting, I digitally manipulate the reference, allowing the program to generate randomized variations with the parameters I’ve set. I primarily use my own references—such as photos and 3D scans—as the raw components for these works.

What are the intentions to evoke in the viewer and audience with your work?

I hope my work conveys a sense of movement or translation between two languages, hoping that it invites the viewer or audience to focus on what they see rather than what it means.

Do you have any references from artists, creators and other visual imaginary that help you in your practice?

Yes, I draw inspiration from many people I’m grateful to have personally met. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of sound artists here in the Philippines. The community’s DIY approach and collaborative performance style, particularly their method of combining various mediums to create a sonic experience, have been points of reference for me.

What are your goals in the future and next moves to keep growing as an artist?

Moving forward, I hope to continue developing my technical skills and experimenting on expanding the process, creating interesting projects that emerge from these explorations. Additionally, I hope to expand my network by collaborating with artists from various disciplines, because, where I’m from, I think working in new or recent media can sometimes be isolating if there’s no community to work with and learn from.