Renowned artists Olivia d’Aboville and JEFRË give us a closer look at their latest public art installations at Circuit Makati.
Filipino-French artist Olivia d’Aboville and Filipino-American artist JEFRË are capturing the imaginations of mall-goers in Circuit Makati with their respective installations “Wonderland Of Lights” and “Talking Heads.” Even before the unveiling ceremony, a few people were already taking selfies and posing with loved ones on an early weekday afternoon, smiling as they marveled at the pieces—which, to me, spoke volumes about the significance of these works.
The installations of JEFRË and d’Aboville are part of Ayala Land’s larger contribution to Art Fair Philippines 2025’s 10 Days of Art program, which aims to foster art appreciation through exhibitions, talks, and public installations sprinkled across Makati City.
READ ALSO: Installations And Exhibitions To See In Celebration Of Art Fair Philippines 2025
Olivia d’Aboville: A Luminous Call To Action
D’Aboville has gained both local and international recognition, primarily through her works that utilize local textiles and play with the tactility of various materials, a technique she’s been honing since her days as a student at the prestigious Duperre Textile Design School in Paris. Yet beyond fabrics, d’Aboville is also a staunch environmental advocate who uses her work to raise awareness on the waste that fills our land and oceans.
“Wonderland of Lights” is a continuation of her famous installation “90 Giant Dandelions,” which went on a grand European tour around Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This particular installation, however, also draws inspiration from the late Nena Saguil, a pioneering Filipino modernist painter. As part of Saguil’s tribute show Lakbay (mounted by boutique multi-platform organization The Art House) the installation pays homage through the arrangement of the dandelions, which mimic the swirling, circular patterns of her art.
The entire installation was made with more than 13,000 plastic bottles, each dandelion head comprising over 100 of them—washed, cut, and assembled by d’Aboville and her team in an endeavor that started in October 2024.
The concept of dandelions emerged after she found the material she would use, rather than the other way around. “I was looking for a material that I could recycle, that I could first of all collect in a large number,” d’Aboville explains. While she initially worked with cocktail stirrers from bars across the Metro, they were more limited in number, which is what led her to sourcing used plastic bottles from hotels—something that came in larger numbers.
D’Aboville has been using recycled and upcycled materials in her art since her school days, both as a showcase of creativity and a call to action. “While I’m actually a textile artist, ‘Wonderland of Lights’ is closer to what I started doing—and it’s still relevant, especially now that we know our bodies are full of [micro]plastics. It’s really a conversation we desperately need to have.”
JEFRË: The Personal And Universal
JEFRË (the pen name assumed by artist Jefre Manuel Figueras) is no stranger to creating urban art, many of which consist of towering metallic figures that take up city skylines in his distinctive style. His works have been exhibited both internationally and locally; ask anyone in Metro Manila, and they’ve likely encountered his recognizable pieces in their daily walks or commutes. These include “The Victor,” which stands at Bridgetowne Robinsons Land Corp. between the borders of Pasig and Quezon City; “Time” which looms in front of SM Megamall; and “Bayani,” a leaning figure greeting visitors of the DoubleDragon Meridian Park in Pasay, to name a few.
“Talking Heads” is another addition to the oeuvre, consisting of a sea of floating, transparent heads with glowing words of affirmation inside their craniums, lifted from the artist’s poem “Heart to Heart” and written in several languages.
The entire installation took about three to four months to complete. JEFRË first sculpted a foam model before taking it to a special factory that would use it as a mold, vacuum sealing it within a plastic material to create the hollow heads. “This was created for an exhibit I did for the Orlando Museum of Art during COVID-19. It’s a traveling exhibit that moved all over the world, and I wanted to bring it here to the Philippines,” JEFRË explains. “What I’ve done differently is that I’ve added two Filipino words to make it more personal.”
As with many of his other works, “Talking Heads” moves from the micro to the macro, referencing the individual and their role in a larger society while retaining a level of universality that allows people from all walks of life to project their own experiences onto the pieces. This sense of universality is also used to highlight our similarities as human beings, a critical exploration in a world that’s paradoxically globalized and divided.
“These heads talk about that feeling of isolation, of staying six feet apart, especially when the world was on pause,” the artist explains. “[At the time] we were kind of judging each other in some ways, and I wanted people to know that, no matter your beliefs or skin color, we’re all part of the same human race and should still respect each other.”
He continues: “That’s why, when you walk in there, the heads look like they’re all invisible. The only thing you see are the neon words in different languages. We’re all thinking the same things, and we’re all the same people.”
The Value Of Public Art
Public art fulfills a much-needed purpose: to bring art closer to everyone without the constraints or walls of an institution—in other words, it broadens the horizons of what we define as accessibility. “It’s a great opportunity to kind of be able to transform spaces that are traditionally used for retail into experiences,” JEFRË shares. “The malls here are like community parks for Filipinos. They’re an extension of that idea of making art accessible for everybody. To bring art out of the institution and into the public space, for free, allows people who might not have the means to go to a museum to see art from there.”
For JEFRË, it’s all about inspiring the next generation who will see these public works and perhaps feel moved enough to create their own art. D’Aboville shares a similar sentiment, adding that art can be used to start crucial conversations with the youth.
“I think the mall is such an important venue for exposure, because families come here, and so you can start this conversation with the kids, because they’re the ones that will inherit what we’re messing up today,” she expresses.
Chris Mohani, executive director at the Samsung Performing Arts Theatre in Circuit Makati, explains that the installations are really parts of a bigger picture that transcends the three-day period of Art Fair Philippines 2025.
“This year, there was an intentional effort to make sure that 10 Days of Art expands beyond the immediate vicinity of Art Fair Philippines,” he elaborates. “Art becomes part of the everyday fabric of people going in and out of these spaces; it also encourages a different way of approaching the space. Our goal is to make sure that it doesn’t just happen within 10 days out of one month, but instead becomes a regular thing that we continue to support.”
Mohani, an acclaimed ballet dancer himself, recalls a concert he watched for free at Luneta Park during his youth, which inspired him to pursue his craft. In making art more accessible, initiatives like 10 Days of Art are planting the seeds of what will hopefully become a flourishing creative landscape, not only for art appreciators, but also for the artists of today and tomorrow.
“Wonderland of Lights” and “Talking Heads” are located at Circuit Makati on Circuit Lane and the Upper Ground Floor, respectively, and will be running until February 23, 2024. To learn more about 10 Days of Art and its various partners, visit its official website at https://www.10daysofart.com/.
