The Cultural Center of the Philippines brings together prints by women artists from different generations who represent potential and potency from the CCP 21st Century Art Museum (21AM) Collection for a special exhibition, on view from October 7 to March 2024, at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA) in Iloilo City.
Dubbed Potential, Potency, and Women Printmakers: Selection of Prints from the CCP 21st Century Art Museum (21AM) Collection, the exhibition title comes from the essay written by visual artist Imelda Cajipe Endaya for the 50th anniversary show of the Association of Pinoyprintmakers held at the CCP Main Gallery in 2018.
In the essay, Endaya recalls the involvement and contribution of women printmakers in the founding of the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP) and evaluates how female labor and sensibilities inform and deepen the artistic practice of printmaking.
The featured women artists are Ambie Abaño, Glenna Aquino, Ivi Cosio-Avellana, Kristen Cain, Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Petite Calaguas, Evelyn Collantes, Yas Doctor, Brenda Fajardo, Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi, Ileana Lee, Lenore R.S. Lim, Araceli Limcaco-Dans, Hershey Malinis, Flora Mauleon, Caroline Ongpin, Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan, Imelda "Impy" Pilapil, Christina "Ling" Quisumbing Ramilo, Rhoda Recto (+), Suchin Teoh, and Phyllis Zaballero.
The displayed prints from the 60s, 70s, and 80s were initially shown at the exhibition WOMAN: Thesis and Antithesis held at the Yuchengco Museum in March 2023. The works from the Women Expressions section of the past exhibit were created using a wide range of printmaking techniques and reflect the artists' different concerns of their times.
The exhibit also highlights artist Ileana Lee's conceptual and abstract explorations in printmaking to illustrate practices by women that visually capture the tactility of the artistic process. Lee, born in Negros Occidental in the late 70s, made an installation work using dotted tapes to demarcate a space in various spaces such as Shop 6, Museum of Philippine Art (MOPA), and the CCP. This was described by a critic as "an act of reclaiming the space of women artists in the art world."
The earlier artworks converse with the recent prints from the 20/30: A Limited-Edition Print Portfolio, made in celebration of the CCP's 50th founding anniversary. The print folio project, while ideated before the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been a channel for the participating artists to deal with the difficulties of our time and to give back to the institutions that support printmaking practice.
Potential, Potency, and Women Printmakers: Selection of Prints from the CCP 21st Century Art Museum (21AM) Collection is part of Proven and Printed: ILOMOCA Print Festival, together with two other exhibitions, namely BAKAS: Filipina Imprints at the Hulot Gallery and Print Exchange + @ILOMOCA at the Ground Floor Lobby.
There will be an opening reception and vernissage on October 6, 2023, 5:30pm, at the ground floor lobby of ILOMOCA. Guided tours will be on October 7, at 11am and 2pm.
As part of the CCP's commitment to engage its audiences and develop art appreciation, the CCP Visual Art and Museum Division will have a public program on October 7, 4pm, at The Box. Con Cabrera and Desi Tolentino of the CCP VAMD will do a two-part discussion on how prints are curated and collected by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Dubbed Curated and Collected: Prints at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, there will be a sharing of the curatorial process for the retrospective exhibitions of Ofeliea Gelvezon-Tequi in 2020 and Imelda Cajipe Endaya in 2022, both held at the CCP Main Gallery, in the first part of the public program.
The retrospectives included a significant number of prints with different display strategies and thematics, and utilization of digital ways of documenting and educational platforms that extend the artworks and materials as visual learning tools.
The second part will present the history, information, condition, and trajectory of the 21st Century Art Museum (21AM) Collection, with focus on the print section. From a collections management standpoint, the discussion will include a sharing of the gaps and challenges and how the web platform and framework of the CCP 21st Century Art Museum (21AM) theorizes, enlivens, and sustains multiple contemporary art practices and trajectories.
ILOMOCA opens on Tuesdays to Sundays, from 10am to 5pm. The museum is located at Casa de Emperador Festive Walk Parade, Mandurriao, Iloilo City, Iloilo.
