Mabuhay — Jaclyn Reyes

Meal to Heal
WAX ON PAPER, 2023

Presented as part of MoMA PS1’s Family Festival: Make Your Own World, June 28–29, 2025, Queens, NY.

The mural resides at the busy intersection, functioning as both a welcome sign and art to beautify the neighborhood. Colors combinations of sunshine yellow with glistening traces of gold, hues of green growth and the sampaguita (or jasmine) flower flourishing from background of blue, with the prominently-displayed “Mabuhay,” a Philippine expression that has many meanings: cheers, welcome, may you live. For more than ten years, there had been attempts to have a Philippine mural in the Little Manila neighborhood. This was an effort to finally achieve that goal, and to also enact creative placekeeping to represent the values of the Filipino community. The visual vocabulary is rooted in the history and landscape of the Philippines. The typography is based on lettering found on the iconic jeepneys; the illustration style of the plants is based on Malay batik design from Mindanao, Indonesia, and Malaysia; the gold in the linework is an homage to goldsmith artistry of precolonial Philippines.

On June 12th, 2020 Filipino organizations, Filipino businesses, artists, local elected officials, and community leaders unveiled a new mural on the south east corner of 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue known as “Little Manila.” The ceremony was also a means to extend appreciation to Filipino businesses and healthcare workers risking their lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Project Team: Jaclyn Reyes, Xenia Diente, Princes Diane De Leon, Hannah Cera, Ezra Undag. With support from The Laundromat Project and Amazing Grace Restaurant.

NOTES

Mabuhay Mural Unveiling Ceremony - Press Release
Frequently Asked Questions About the Mabuhay Mural

PRESS

Asian Journal: “‘Mabuhay’ Mural Paying Tribute To Front Line Workers Unveiled In Queens’ Little Manila”
Sunnyside Post: “New Mural in Woodside Honors Its Filipino Community”
The FilAm: “Mabuhay mural unveiled in Queens”
PBS: “A COVID Nurse Finds Reasons to Dance” | Caretakers
The New York Times: “‘It’s Starting Again’: Why Filipino Nurses Dread the Second Wave”
EaterNY: The Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week