“When I think of death, and of late the idea has come with alarming frequency, I seem at peace with the idea that a day will dawn when I will no longer be among those living in this valley of strange humors.
I can accept the idea of my own demise, but I am unable to accept the death of anyone else.
I find it impossible to let a friend or relative go into that country of no return.
Disbelief becomes my close companion, and anger follows in its wake.
I answer the heroic question, ‘Death where is thy sting?’ with ‘It is here in my heart and mind and memories.”
—Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Anyone who has had to deal with the loss of a loved one understands the weight of these words. The inconsolable grief. The debilitating void.
Two artists draw from their experiences and explore the theme in separate presentations at Mono8 Gallery. The pair of solo exhibitions were extended until January 14 as Metro Manila was put under Alert Level 3. Visits to the gallery are strictly by appointment only.
Tammy de Roca, ‘In the Next Lifetime, We Will Meet Again’
Visual artist Tammy de Roca reaches beyond colors in creating images. She uses textures—elements that the eyes can feel—to carve depth and meaning in her paintings, sculptures and other artistic expressions.
In her latest solo show, De Roca continues with her series of landscapes and seascapes using texture. These places, these scenes are but figments of the artist’s imagination, envisioned as locations where she can reconnect with her departed loved ones. It’s a list that includes her late grandfather, whose birthday coincided with the day of the show’s opening.
In the Next Lifetime, We Will Meet Again thus presents poignant sceneries that reflect and evoke a gentle sense of longing, where the waves crash softly on embracing rocks. This is especially felt in the pieces pensively titled And Enough as well as And I Hope This is the Ending We Were Hoping For.
Annie Pacaña, ‘No Words’
Where most feel grime and hear a cacophony of car horns, Annie Pacaña sees something else. The resident of Metro Manila “aestheticizes the visual chaos” in the capital by capturing and presenting image projections as abstract illustrations.
In No Words, the artist probes the duality of the meaning of reflection. The first explores the theme as a law of physics, with artworks produced from Pacaña’s analysis of how light falls on a plane in terms of how the work may be viewed and interpreted.
Her second play on reflection is as a thought process. The artist explains in the show’s exhibition note that she used to count cars passing by with her father for feasibility studies for putting up gasoline stations.
“His sudden passing [last] year brought me back to that moment of watching cars go by and marking a line for each,” the artist writes. “A line for each that passed in front of me in a moment, until numbness sets in. What do we gain in every loss and what do we lose in every gain?”
The artist then dissected one of her presented works, Angle of Reflection, which involves a single wall projection and its multiple reflections on a pool of windshields. The resulting, abstracted image projected is a processed experience from photographs she took of wires laid down in an infinity loop on the street. She says the work presents “that bewildering moment and all that I have been through in recent years.”
“No matter what, we persist with all the learnings in tow,” she writes. “…The viewer may stay awhile, watch and reflect. A space of contemplation is offered for those who have been tested.”
Next up on Mono8 Gallery are solo exhibitions featuring three young artists: Victoria, whose practice is influenced by analytical cubism and abstract expressionism; Jem Magbanua, who explores how places and people shape each other’s conditions through mutual points; and Veronica Lazo, whose works serve as commentaries that respond to the contexts of the times.