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Featuring artist Casielle Santos-Gaerlan during Filipino American History Month

AANHPI, design, fonts, social issues

Headshot of Casielle smiling, with the words next to her, Casielle Santos-Gaerlan: Visual artist, illustrator, designer.

Brim Branding and Font Infusions are proud to partner with artist Casielle Santos-Gaerlan during Filipino American History Month. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Casielle is a prolific and mega-talented visual artist, illustrator, and designer, having partnered with brands you’ve heard of like LUSH, Yahoo, and Puma.

She is also a published artist, having illustrated the book, Kalayaan “Filipina Heroines of World War II” (2023) with author and fellow Filipino American, Kathryn Serrano.

Cover of the book Kalayaan: Filipina Heroines of World War II, featuring illustrations of 9 women gazing out towards the viewer, with the words, "Written by Kathryn Serrano. Illustrated by Casielle Santos-Gaerlan" at the bottom.

Here are the beautiful Instagram posts Casielle illustrated and designed using fonts from our font foundry, the first woman-Fil-Am owned foundry, Font Infusions:

A graphic featuring speech bubbles, a circle, and cloud with various facts about the Philippines and Filipino Americans. Title at the top: Filipino-American History Month. Facts: October is Filipino-American History Month that honors the history, pursuits, accomplishments, and legacy of Filipinos in the United States. Following years of campaigning and advocacy by both civil and society organizations, FAHM was established in 1992." "Filipino-Americans are 3rd largest Asian-American ethnic group in the U.S." "Did you know: Filipinos were the first Asian group to arrive in the United States in 1587. They were The Luzonians." "On July 4th, 1946, the Philippines was recognized as an independent, sovereign country by the United States which withrew its authority over the archipelago as a colonizer."
This post features broad facts about the Philippines and Filipino Americans as an introduction to Filipino American History Month.
Illustration of a Filipino nurse standing behind another Filipino nurse who is sitting. She is helping her fasten her nurses' cap. Headline reading, "Celebrating Filipino Nurses" with subhead, "Recognizing the hard work and contributions the Filipino nurses have made to this country." Supporting text: "Filipino nurses provide a critical source of labor for large metropolitan and public hospitals primarily in the states of New York, New Jersey, California, Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts. In New York City, Filipinos comprise 18 percent of RN (registered nurse) staff in the city's hospitals. Filipino nurses are also geographically clustered in Midwestern urban areas, in particular Chicago." – Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History by Catherine Ceniza Choy
This post is dedicated to the Filipino nurses, who greatly contribute to the workforce of the U.S. and who have their own major historical impact, as documented and analyzed by author Catherine Ceniza Choy in her book, Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History. This post was also personally important to me, since my own mom immigrated to the United States in 1973 as an RN (registered nurse).
Graphic that says in bold text, "Happy Filipino American History Month to those who don't speak or understand Tagalog" @brimbranding @fontinfusions
Graphic that says in bold text, "Happy Filipino American History Month to those who have never traveled to The Philippines" @brimbranding @fontinfusions
I loved Casielle’s idea of dedicating a post to those who don’t feel “Filipino enough.” As children of two worlds, this internal narrative is a common struggle to Filipino Americans, and these posts give voice to this. This artwork validates those who may not have the means to travel abroad and those who were not taught the language of the motherland. As children of immigrants, we succumbed to the pressure to assimiliate to a predominantly White environment, so some of us were not taught Filipino languages. Nevertheless, we are still Filipino American. Admittedly, this phenomenon alone can be examined in a book like Catherine Ceniza Choy’s, but to even acknowledge this at all is powerful, even through a quick social media post.

All social media images designed by Casielle Santos-Gaerlan, ©2023.

Maraming salamat (many thanks!) to Casielle for her time and talent!

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