About

It all started when...

On the day I was supposed to be born, I decided "to stand up." My mother was waiting in a hospital in the Philippines for me to breach but she felt nothing.  The doctor decided to check the ultrasound and he laughed when he saw that over the course of the night, I shifted position and now my feet are supposed to be where my head is.  Doctor jokingly told my father, "This child will give you headaches."  

From then on, I unknowingly measured my life on how I stand up to people, how I stand along with people, stand up for things that I believe in.  Growing up gay in an ultra conservative Catholic environment taught me how to fend for myself and learned on the strength of seemingly to stand alone.  I sought refuge in comics, in art, in books.

Though that seems too much bravado, because I did not stand alone.  I stood with mentors that helped me see different points of view and the helped me not fear theory but actually welcome it as a crucial point in art production.  I stand with friends and family who have supported me in my work and in my stances.  More importantly, I stand, ultimately, on the shoulders of giants in the arts, and social sciences to be reminded at a daily basis that art is not decorative but a point of contention and contestation, that art is for the people and that art socially engages with the difficult questions in the hopes of progress.

My name is Jose Santos P. Ardivilla and I am a political cartoonist.  It is my job to explore and expose the nation's headaches and try to give them headaches.

Send me an email, if you want a copy of my CV.

Thanks for dropping by.