Identity Made Visible

Primed as a show that features "artistic gems" from the Pearl of the Orient (“hiyas” being a word that translates to “gems”), it hitched its curatorial score on how the creative viewpoints of its exhibiting talents has been shaped by the richness of Philippine heritage.

- By Yasunari Ramon Suarez Taguchi

A portion of the show’s curatorial notes reads: “Art, beyond expression, is identity made visible. Through masterful strokes and forms, the show shares the narratives of the Filipino people — stories drawn from history, ancestral wisdom and traditions and contemporary realities.”

More than a creative presentation of “stories from the Philippines”, the show doubled as an invitation for viewers to glimpses of the soul of a nation via works that embody the hopes and aspirations of the Filipino; perceived and interpreted by the creative viewfinders of Filipino artists.

Shorn of these aspects to the show, however, one can say that it doubled as a junction point — a lucid interval, so to speak — that earmarks how similar-yet-different the creative inflections of artists from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao have become.