Olive Nieto is a performance maker and an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She co-created the MonoVlog (a coinage that contracts the terms “monologue” and “vlog”) with playwright Layeta P. Bucoy. The MonoVlog is a genre of online performance that bundles the various Filipino lockdown experiences as a proof of life, a private conversation in social media, a health advisory, a tribute to frontliners, a death folder, a shout-out to advocacy groups, a community-led response to the pandemic, and a call for help. These components serve as the influences and substances of monologues that follow the vlogging format. The MonoVlog’s creation took place when Filipinos turned to the Internet to exercise free speech and creative expression in the time of enforced lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
