GRAB the chance to be mesmerized with the wonders of water in all its forms, as an exhibition of the best and distinctive paintings, prints, photography and sculptures is currently captured in “Ebb and Flow: Return to Nature” at the Yuchengco Museum in Makati City.
European and Filipino artists have come together to show the beauty of water, its importance, and what happens when water, and the life that it sustains, are nurtured or are ruined.
Curated by César Caballero, the exhibition also features works by Kizel Cotiw-an, Fara Manuel Nolasco, Ann Pamintuan (all three from the Philippines), Ramon and Romania Diaz (Philippines and Italy), Louis Dumont (Belgium), Henri Etéve (France), Jeanette Kamphuis (Sweden), Radha Makitalo (Finland) , René Reitier (Germany), and Viviana Riccelli (Italy).
The exhibition is part of the Viva Europa 2022 cultural festival, which aims to highlight shared European cultural heritage with Filipinos. It is also in celebration of the founding of the European Union. It coincides with the EU Green Week from May 30 to June 5, and the lead-up to the UN Oceans Conference in Lisbon on June 27 to July 1.
EU Ambassador to the Philippines Luc Véron, the museum’s chair Yvonne Yuchengco, and curator César Caballero inaugurated the exhibition, which will be open until the end of May.
Véron said that the title of the exhibition is an invitation “to meditate on life. [There’s no] life without water. Yet, as we sailors know very well, water is indomitable. Our planet is blue, yet man cannot conquer the ocean. We are just its humble servants.”
Caballero described the exhibition as a “gathering, once again, of multidisciplinary artists from the Philippines and several European countries maintaining connections on vital and important questions for life, and the transcendental coexistence of the identity of communities and their individuals.”
He emphasized the need for diversity and uniqueness of each citizen, and the need to respect people’s beliefs and decisions.
The exhibition is an initiative of the Delegation of the EU to the Philippines and the Yuchengco Museum, embassies of Belgium, Germany, Spain (together with Instituto Cervantes Manila), France (with Alliance Francaise de Manille), Italy (with the Philippine Italian Association and Galleria Duemila), Finland, Sweden, and artists from the University of the Philippines-Baguio City.