Sabi Ni Tita
My Auntie Said
“Sabi ni Tita”, or My Auntie Said, is a digital archive and text-based art project that collect real-life unsolicited comments, backhanded compliments, and micro-aggressions, often disguised as advice and delivered with a smile, commonly heard from a “tita” (auntie figure in Filipino culture). While usually said with good intentions, these remarks reflect deeply rooted colonial and patriarchal ideologies.
“Tita” isn’t always a literal aunt, she’s a cultural archetype. She could be anyone, a neighbour and even a stranger, but one thing is for sure, we all know her: she’s the one with the unsolicited comments you’ve learned to smile through. She represents a generational voice, shaped by internalised beauty standards, colonial influence, societal expectations, without even realising it. in Sabi ni Tita, she becomes familiar yet haunting. A character we laugh at, but also carry with us. Through her voice, the project opens up a space for collective cultural critique, using humour, discomfort, and memory to reveal just how deep these ideologies run.
Many of these comments are so normalised in Tagalog that we rarely pause to question them. But when translated into English and posted publicly, their tone shift, and so does our reaction. What once felt like casual advice suddenly reveals its full weight. Translation becomes a tool of exposure: it forces us ti really hear what we’ve always heard, this time without softening it.
At its core, Sabi ni Tita, is about visibility. It’s about naming what we’ve inherited, not ridicule it, but to understand where it comes from and to decide what we want to carry forward. Through text, humour, and cultural memory, this project invites us to pause, reflect, and ask: