Many of us wish we could go back in time to ask our grandparents questions about their life, their family, and what it was like growing up, but Kenneth Tan did not need a time machine. Instead, he used art to connect with his grandmother and preserve her stories before they were lost forever. In 2014, Tan left his job as a graphic designer in Southern California and returned home to San Jose to help take care of his grandmother – who also referred to by the Filipino term of endearment, "Lola.
" "One day after breakfast at the kitchen table, I asked, 'What do you want to do today? And Lola said she wanted to do something for purpose," remembered Tan. They found that purpose by creating art through paper and brushstrokes. Together, they would form more than just a bond.
Instead, Kenneth would get a full picture of a life rediscovered. "As she was making her watercolor paintings, she would tell me stories about her life in the Philippines," said Tan. "Stories from WWII, growing up in the Philippines, and I wanted to remember everything.
" To bring those memories to life, Kenneth decided to create his own art on top of his lola's watercolor creations to complete each story. One of her paintings shows abstract lines of blue and green. "She said she painted the cape of the knight," said Tan.
It is a simple painting, that he then used to illustrate and tell the story of a national hero of the Philippines, named Jesús Antonio Villamor. "So Villamor was an ace pilot of the Philippin.