Ivan Blanco is a Filipino American, Los Angeles-based illustrator and designer. He loves listening to people’s unique stories and telling his own through his work. He aims to use art as a platform to hear, share, and honor all stories especially ones that feel untold. See more of his work at ivanblancoart.com or through Instagram @ivanb511.
Migration as GraceI had heard the story a thousand times. As a young man in China in the 1920s, my Gung-Gung (grandfather) Calvin Chao contracted the deadly disease of tuberculosis.
Gardening in the AshesI came across this line in the book “The Cultivated Life”, and it moved me. The author described a forest after a wildfire, with trees leveled down to charred stumps and dead branches, and then, suddenly, a green shoot peeks out from the ashes. Yes, some seeds only open up in destruction. But until that flash of color, death is present — acute and chronic pain, grief, desolation.
Lost in TranslationI arrived late for the opening worship of a conference for second-generation (and beyond) Korean American pastors and church leaders. Instead of quietly sneaking into the sanctuary, I found myself hesitating to go in.
