By starting a dialog with the viewers, Alyssa invites them to challenge their own interpretations of sex.

What are the usual themes in your work?

Usual themes in my work, may it be for a fashion commission or personal projects, are

mundane everyday moments and playing around an idea so familiar to something

more playful.

Tell us about your latest project/s or anything you are currently working on.

Nowadays, I’m mostly working on fashion-related projects. The latest shoot was a Yohji

Yamamato special editorial for fashion magazine POP. I did a fun yet dramatic story

around a car breakdown stuck in the middle of a lost road in the suburbs of Paris.

Then, I’m also currently writing up ideas and in the conceptualization phase for a

new personal project, I want to do about the Philippines, a sort of lighthearted visual

ode to Home. Leaving the Philippines, almost 8years ago now has been making me

feel inspired to do a project about how I remember home, it’s colors and clichés.

How do you study or research for a project?

Really depends. But usually through lots of internet or book browsing. I like

collecting old vernacular photography as well, feel very inspired by these. Cinema is

also a big part of the references I dive into.

What are the processes involved in your art-making?

Have a notebook with ideas, keep with me when something pops in mind. Go through

a mix of visual references that would illustrate the vibe I’m wanting to create,

sometimes sketch out an image I want to do then try to recreate it to make it all come

to life.

Name some of the artists who have influenced you in your practice.

Ah so many. But to name a few, Martin Parr, Robert Mapplethorpe, Masato Seto, stills

by Irving Penn…etc. Also lots of still from movies, like from director: Fellini, Tarantino, Wes Anderson.

 Among your works, which of them could be called your favorites?

My favorite photo would be the still life I did of an asparagus. It’s a boring object, and a

vegetable I personally don’t like either and it was one of the first images i did that

made me realize what I was drawn to, which is banality and daily life and viewing it

with another angle. The photo also inspired by Edouard Manet asparagus painting.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

Hard to just pick one… but any memory playing with my siblings. Playing Chinese

garter, making birthday videos with them for my Mom.