02 — Char Austria

Written by Ava Austria ✦ 7/31/2025

Char Austria, hailing from the Bay Area, is an accomplished and insightful visual artist who finds her strong suit in filmmaking, specializing in lino cut and screen printing. As an artist, Char aims to expand social and political advocacy across various forms of media, spreading messages she’s passionate about through her work. 

Much of her art contains messages derived from the Filipino youth organization, Anakbayan, which is dedicated to the belief that Philippine society today is not truly free nor democratic. Anakbayan, in particular, was what sparked Char’s true passion for creating.

When asked about her journey as an artist, Char said, “I’ve been doing art since I was a kid, I feel like I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. I feel like growing up, it was mostly drawing, and a little bit of painting, like watercolor. I did oil classes in college for a little bit, but it wasn’t until I joined this political organization, a Filipino youth organization, where I was actually introduced to printmaking. It was just a random project to make merch to sell, but they made a lino block and asked me to help with it. I liked it because it was a very community-oriented process, and I was doing it with multiple people, versus just drawing and painting on my own. From there, I kind of just started doing lino blocks on my own.”

Char’s gravitation towards being very community-oriented also stems from her background in the Bay Area, mentioning that, “Growing up in the Bay, I think in terms of how it affects my work, I think because a lot of my work is about Filipinos, the Philippines, and the social conditions of Filipinos in the Philippines and here, I think growing up in the Bay I grew up closer to my family, because that’s where most of my family migrated, it wasn’t a super complex connection, but I stay connected to the culture and my family history.”

Along with Anakbayan, Char‘s art also draws inspiration from numerous historical periods, stating that, “I try to grab from bigger trends, especially historical periods. Because printmaking is a very political art form, I’m drawn to a lot of eras in history where printmaking was a very important aspect of preserving history. I think especially in places like Korea, or even Cuba, or Mexico. Printmaking is very huge, and I like looking at different countries as a whole.” 

Her work can be found at @hawkingroses on Instagram!