Federico ‘Boy’ Dominguez, or more popularly, ‘BoyD’ is a Filipino activist painter and musician, who belongs to the Mandaya indigenous peoples in Mindanao, in southern Philippines. For decades, BoyD has painted, in his distinct style, images of exploitation and oppression – based on the intersection of class and interlocking axis of social differences: race, ethnicity, genders, generation, religion – and ecological destruction. But these are not defeatist images because BoyD always include elements of political agency of the Indigenous, peasants and working class, depicting them to be insurgent and subversive. BoyD’s images focus on political struggles to dismantle structures of exploitation, oppression and extractivism, at the same time on struggles to construct alternatives such as food sovereignty and agroecology. A BoyD painting can convey powerfully the complex message that scholars would struggle to explain 10 articles of 300 pages of text, for example, on issues of the political economy of biofuels or green grabbing.

But now, this long-standing commitment is under threat as BoyD is seriously ill. He has been diagnosed with Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), a rare and progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects his cognition, movement, and speech. In addition, he suffers from Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 3 and underwent surgical removal of his left kidney in 2021. Like many working-class and peasant families in the Philippines, BoyD and his family are struggling to cope with the high cost of medicines and care. Health insurance remains inaccessible for many, including them. Given his condition, he now requires 24/7 care, which his family alone cannot provide. Through this crowdfunding effort, we aim to raise funds to support his medical treatment and essential care.

A fellow of the Asia Public Intellectuals (API), BoyD is a brilliant revolutionary artist who is grounded and humble. For the past decades he has inspired so many scholar-activists in the broad community of Critical Agrarian Studies, development studies, political ecology and other fields. His paintings have been features in the covers, conference banners, and event logos of Journal of Peasant Studies, Initiatives in Critical Agrarian Studies, Land Deal Political Initiatives, Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiatives, among other international networks and initiatives. In so many ways, BoyD has been an active part in the construction of the field of Critical Agrarian Studies – a field that has been co-constructed by scholars and social movement activists.

It is for this reason that a loose international community of critical agrarian studies scholars - many associated with the Journal of Peasant Studies and its networks - has come together with the Philippine Knowledge and Activity Center in the Netherlands (Foundation Filipijnengroep Nederland - FGN) and BoyD’s family to launch this crowdfunding campaign.

Boy Dominguez and his family will deeply appreciate your contribution.

For further background, see BoyD’s 2022 interview piece by Alastair Iles in Journal of Peasant Studies: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2022.2092695

For selected BoyD images, see here: https://www.peasantjournal.org/gallery