Balikbayan Box

Balikbayan means “return to country” and for Filipino-Australians, the Balikbayan box is a long-standing tradition that allows family members abroad to maintain connections with their family in the Philippines.

Over 10 million Filipinos live outside of the Philippines and according to the 2021 Census, Filipino-Australians are the fifth largest group of overseas born people in the Australian population. Over 40,000 boxes are sent each year from WA alone. These boxes are packed in the past and received in the future. In the here and now, a Balikbayan box may contain an array of seemingly random physical objects.

Through augmented reality this installation attempts to reveal the hidden meaning behind these objects by overlaying digital elements over the physical balikbayan box. Stories of hope, aspiration, belonging, gratitude, generosity, and familial ties are revealed and all contained within a humble cardboard box.

Several interviews were conducted with the local Filipino-Australia community in WA during the research and development of this project. Voyant AR wishes to thank the following organisations and individuals for their time, support and guidance: PLR Balikbayan Boxes, Philippines Educational Theatre Artists WA (PETAWA), Louisa Cotter & Pez Reyna, Dante & Elsa Marribbay, Maria Clores, Filipenas Watson and Natividad Marinho.

This exhibition was displayed during the XR:WA Festival 2022 at the WA Museum Boola Bardip.