Taililo Marfil and Yolotil X Speak on Activism Through the Arts

On March 3rd, WSUV hosted 2 special guest speakers as part of its Documentary Arts Initiative (DocArts). The event featured Talilo Marfil and Yolotil X, who spoke about how art can be used as a tool for activism, sharing their respective histories in relation to food justice and community organization.

Talilo Marfil, a West-Bisayan, Filipino-American hip-hop artist, creative producer, and youth advocate, uses music and storytelling to address issues of identity, culture, and social justice. 

Marfil opens by providing a bit of history about the Bisayan region of the Philippines, introducing a key theme of the event: connection to one’s culture. 

“We have a lot of tattoos,” he said. “My tattoos tell the story of my status, my accomplishments, my family, my calling in life. And all this was erased in our culture through Spanish colonialism.”

Marfil went on to describe a difficult childhood shaped by poverty and instability. His family frequently moved, at times living in cars and homeless shelters, which he said left him searching for a sense of belonging. As a teenager, that search led him toward gang involvement and other illegal activity, eventually resulting in time in prison. 

During that period, he said hip-hop became an outlet for him, and he said he spent much time in prison writing lyrics and reading books.

When he was released, he said, he faced significant barriers to getting a job or an apartment, due to his felony criminal record. 

“You could imagine that most people that come out of prison will most likely go back because of this barrier. Because what are you gonna do?” He said. “You’re gonna go back into survival instinct, sell drugs, and do what you can to survive, which violates the parole, and sends you back.” 

Marfil said that Outside the Frame, an organization which trains youth and marginalized folks to be directors, paid Marfil to make music videos, and eventually hired him to be a mentor for others.

Yolotil X is a Chicano community organizer, urban farmer, and direct actionist whose work focuses on food and climate justice, who shared his own background in activism and community organizing. 

X explained that he grew up working with his father, a Mexican immigrant and laborer, before eventually deciding to strike out on his own upon turning 18. From 19 to 26, he says, he spent his time hitchhiking—traveling across North and Central America.

He said his political involvement first began during the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. He became involved in environmental and climate justice campaigns, including protests against oil drilling infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest. 

He described participating in kayak protests against a Shell oil rig in Puget Sound, recalling how a small group launched a direct action to block the vessel. 

“We went out there, and we stopped the oil rig with only seven of us,” he said. The experience, he explained, demonstrated how even small groups of committed people can take meaningful, effective action.

Following this, X said he began focusing more directly on food systems and urban agriculture. After returning to Portland, he became involved in community farming initiatives. 

“I was like, ‘Well, I gotta learn how to grow food if I wanna be involved in the movement,’” he said, describing the use of farming as a form of climate activism. 

Through these projects, he said, he hopes to bring together different activist groups and marginalized communities to rethink how food is produced and distributed.

X also discussed organizing projects combining activism, agriculture, and media production, including collaborations with Marfil to create music videos highlighting food justice work (For example, a song they made called “Roots”, which covers the theme of cultural identity and climate / food activism). 

These projects, he explained, aim to raise awareness about local farming efforts and encourage broader participation in reshaping the food system. “We gotta build a coalition, and we gotta change the food system,” he said.