There are artists who isolate themselves in service of their craft. But Joi Conti–the Filipino-American photographer behind “Tayo Na”–isn’t among them. And this is why.
Back in 2021, Joi Conti, a Filipino-American photographer, furthered her career by avoiding something that many artists sought out to advance theirs: isolation.
She’s not a fan of it, she said. She prefers to be working with others and her current state explains why.
Since moving to Austin, Texas that year, Conti has been developing quite a reputation behind the lens. She once posted on Instagram that when someone asks her for the sky, she delivers and that’s what she’s been trying to do. She’s been treating the wants and needs of others as opportunities to exercise her creativity. She’s done a lot of work because of that. And her website—which documents past projects—has become a gallery that highlight her capacity to understand and capture what other people want to see.
Furthermore, her name has been appearing on a number of platforms. This is mostly because of the collaborations she’s done. Chief among them was “Tayo Na,” a guidebook concept that currently casts a spotlight on Filipino-Americans contributing to the way of life in Austin. She conceived this project and led its execution. But she also said that it pushed through because of at least two things: the community that could benefit from it and the community that helped her realize it.
In other words, she’s become quite productive as of late and it’s partly because she isn’t alone.
“Loneliness doesn’t foster creativity for me,” she said. But in some of the places she used to live in, “loneliness” was both constant and ironic.
Before moving to Austin, Conti was a resident of the Bay Area which had one of the highest concentrations of Filipino-Americans in the United States. She also lived in Queens, New York—a borough so rife with Filipino influence that it ended up having a neighborhood called Little Manila. Both were urban locales and were highly populated with people she had inherent connections with. But, when she lived in them, she still felt mostly isolated.
“I guess it’s all different when you live in a big city,” Conti surmised; people, she further explained, normally kept to themselves in these areas in order to feel safe. “Stranger danger” is an idea that underscores the potential threats of unknown individuals and according to her, many who live in big cities tend to be influenced by this. The people of Austin, however, appear to be different.
On her first day as a resident of the Texas capital, Conti was technically a ‘stranger.’ But, instead of being treated as a kind of ‘danger,’ her neighbor got out of her house with drinks and a warm welcome. She was almost brought to tears when this happened. And to this day, that remains to be one of the experiences she retells to explain her attraction to Austin.
“Here,” she said, “I just feel more grounded and free to be able to talk to people because people are friendly; people are welcoming.”
There were artists who didn’t necessarily look for this. History is full of creatives who sought seclusion in order to focus on work and this choice favored them. It also became such a prevalent reality that the image of the isolated artist is now something of a stereotype perpetuated by various forms of media.
However, there were also those who wanted a different setting. Whether it’s because of their preferences or the demands of their craft, there were creators throughout history and all over the world who worked better because they were part of a welcoming community. And according to at least one expert, some of these people shared Conti’s heritage.
In 2024, the Filipino Story Studio released an interview featuring Professor Felipe De Leon Jr. By the time this was filmed, he had already been studying the Philippine culture for more than 60 years. In the interview, De Leon said that Filipinos tend to be highly relational. This trait pushes them to be community-oriented and that, in turn, fuels their artistry.
“In traditional cultures, the sense of community is very, very strong,” he said. “This is the norm in all of our traditional societies.”
In the video, De Leon further explained that if there is a strong sense of community, people tend to feel more relaxed. “Now, the more relax you are,” he added, “the more open you are. The more you are you. The more you can bring out who you really are. You become more expressive. You become more artistic. You become a natural artist. That’s why in our traditional culture, everybody is an artist. Almost no exception.”
Apart from this, he also mentioned that people who are highly relational tend to be more versatile. Relationality, he said, urges people to get closer to others and “the [closer] you are to one another, the more you would like to understand and do what others can do.”
He gave an example by bringing up Samaon Sulaiman. He is the late Filipino musician who, during his life, was a recipient of the National Living Treasure award from the Philippine government. Sulaiman, a man from Maguindanao, was known for being an exceptional player of the kutiyapi, a string instrument popular in his province. But, aside from that, he was also a favorite barber in his neighborhood. He was also an imam and a farmer. De Leon said that the Filipino trait of being highly relational was the reason behind Sulaiman’s versatility.
“When you’re one with the community,” he said, “and you’d like to relate to everybody, you have to know what others are doing.” Knowing, of course, also leads to other things. Knowledge of your neighbor, for example, introduces you to their needs and that can inspire both creativity and action.
The union of the two can manifest in different ways. In the story of Conti, this came in the form of a book realized by her talents as a photographer.
It all started during an online marketing event which happened after Conti moved to Austin. She introduced herself as a photographer in one of the breakout sessions and the Asian woman she was talking to seemed surprised by her profession. Conti didn’t take offense to this though.
“I just took it as… an avenue of education,” she said. “It’s like, oh, okay, well, like, yeah, another Asian person can’t quite wrap their head around the fact that an artistic career… it can be a full-time career.”
But there were many like her in Austin: Filipino-Americans who made a living off of their creative pursuits. Emlyn Roesler is one. She is the woman behind Solid Soaps. Conti first met her at a networking event and kept running into her in artist markets. Their chance meetings eventually became the foundation of their friendship which led to Conti meeting more Filipino-American business owners in their city. And to them, she eventually had two words to say: “tayo na.” This is a Filipino remark that can mean at least two things in English: “let’s go” and “it’s our turn.”
Driven by the desire to make her newfound community more visible, Conti conceived “Tayo Na” as a printed guidebook of Filipino businesses operating in Austin.
The first edition, launched in October 2023, was funded by the Project Rebuild Small Business Grant. Fronted by a photo of lips biting on calamansi—the citrus hybrid commonly used in Filipino dishes—this issue is a collection of photos featuring Filipino artists and business owners at a store selling products commonly seen in the Philippines. It then follows their convergence into a communal feast where Conti’s subjects eat with their hands (as some people do in certain casual Philippine settings.)
The second issue is also a party. Funded by the Nexus Grant and launched on September 2024, it gathers a different crop of Filipino makers based in Austin. They engage in a recreation of casual Saturday night garage gatherings that tend to occur in the Philippines; the scene where beer, pulutan (food that often complements alcohol) and a karaoke machine are common sights.
Since the launch of these two guidebooks, Conti observed that it nurtured a stronger sense of community within the Filipino-Americans in Austin. It also invigorated people who believed in the value of collaborations. Beyond her immediate observations, it also stood as proof of what people like De Leon believe: how having a sense of community can give people the frame of mind needed to take on creative pursuits. And it appears that it will continue to do that for Conti.
In 2026, a new version of “Tayo Na” is expected to be launched. Conti plans to use all of 2025 to gather a team, get support and have more people involved. She is looking to make Austin once again the setting for this project but she’s also open to expanding its scope. Currently, she is entertaining the idea of opening up to other Asian organizations to see if she can include them as well.
She admitted that this might be a challenge due to how big the Asian community is in Austin but she appeared hopeful.
“Maybe I can find a way [to make it work,]” she said. And if she does, it will be yet another creative adventure completed by someone avoiding isolation.
