Martin Mondia
Artist / Adventurer
A jack of all trades and self-proclaimed master of "living the journey” this is what fills my last 13 years! May I call myself a genius for visually documenting the time filled with heartaches, headaches, joy and laughter? Not many people reach for a camera in the throes of chaos, but before your imagination gets ahead of what my story may be, let’s take a moment here; while I quickly draw you a picture of my childhood – the very one that helped shape who I am today.
I'm a military brat, born in the Philippines where I lived until the age of 7. Of course I also call southern Texas and California home. I was raised by a strong Filipino mother who insisted we keep our cultural identity and awareness and a step-dad who was all things Americana. Imagine my days with four other siblings (2 half-siblings oh, and I have a twin!). Oh, the fun we had – you should have seen the interactions between us kids and our mom and step-dad! They were from two different worlds! My mother's goal was to groom her immigrant children to achieve her definition of the American dream. I vividly remember my step-dad's efforts to help us assimilate. We lost him to cancer in the early 90’s but his influence can be seen in many things I do.
It was in college that I truly understood; fully felt the gratitude for how our parents loved and raised us five children. They put us kids first – they shared their knowledge, unconditional love and sometimes, their last dollar. Not all was hot dogs and apple pie however, I’ll never forget our first day of school here in the states. I was in the 4th grade and our mom packed fish heads in our lunch boxes. Fish heads for our LUNCH! The school cafeteria was center stage for the awkwardness of the average elementary school goer. Suffice it to say, the mean kids ran with this! Too bad I didn't have a cool cell phone back then; I could have captured the unveiling of our meals! That’s me – the one with the passion to see the spontaneous interactions between humans and environment. I believe that moment – that exact second was the birth of my love for ALL powerful moments! In the following days, it was our father who was our hero when he saved us with bologna sandwiches and Twinkies!
Today, I take pride in my ability to stay humble, not chase “things” and find balance between simplicity and my contentment. I want to explore where I am in the moment and show the true essence of the authentic experience. I’ve been lucky to do many things throughout my career. And in that I’ve learned – hands on – about the subtle and sometimes drastic ways of individuals. I’ve seen firsthand how we as humans relate with one another. I like to think I've grown to be a caring, loving, empathetic, curious and adventurous person who starts the day thinking about how success is happiness and my happiness is my greatest success. I know what those words really mean.
I hope you find some of that in the work I share with you!
Cheers