Alexis Marga's enchanted 'Garden of Origin'

Childhood memories and dreams come to life through sculpted frames and paintings

- By S. C. FOJAS

MEET THE ARTIST Alexis Marga

It is a liminal space where beauty coexists with unease and nostalgia collides with strangeness. Alexis Marga's "The Garden of Origin" is a nostalgic yet wondrous atmosphere.

The exhibit, featuring paintings on linen with sculpted frames of epoxy and resin, is deeply rooted in Alexis' personal history. She explains that the series "mainly focused on my own experiences as a child, my memories combined with the memories of my daydreams, particularly when I was eight years old and we moved from the city to the province of Bulacan."

Alexis was born in the city where the sun rose and set on "buildings all gray and gloomy," but her life changed when her family moved to her grandfather's lot. This place, filled with untrimmed grass, colorful flowers, trees, and thorny vines, became what she calls her "garden of origin."

The paintings in the exhibit, which are oil on linen, are stories of fantasy, referencing fairy tales, first pets, flowers, and imaginary creatures.