Tag-apoy (“fire season”) is Iya Regalario’s latest solo exhibit of pyrography paintings on wood and ink drawings on paper. It reflects on her observations of the shifting tides of the Philippines’s cultural history and socio-political environment.
Using fire intuitively as a central element, she ponders on its polarities—its potency as both a guiding light and a hellish force in a perpetually burning pit. For her, fire stands for solidarity and creation as much as it stands for chaos and destruction.
“Fire is life and death, the beginning and end, constantly burning through the timeline of our national identity as Filipinos,” said Regalario on the topic of antiquity and persistence of fire throughout time, as shown in her elaborate use of fire-related elements from native Filipino mythology and folklore. “The element of fire is consistently represented in both its literal and symbolic senses to mark significant events in our history, and to express personal ponderings toward the perpetually chaotic state of our nation, as most notably stressed during the recent regime.”
The collection illustrates this through nine works on wood—three large horizontal scroll-like wood slabs, titled Sinilabang Kasaysayan, and six other individually titled wood portraits—plus a series of four ink illustrations on paper, titled Bodies.
Tag-apoy will be on display at Gallery 2 of Pintô Art Museum from July 3 to 24.