The presentation in London this October precedes a major European retrospective of the Filipino artist, opening at Madrid’s Reina Sofía in 2027.
London gallery Alison Jacques announced the forthcoming exhibition of Filipino-American artist Pacita Abad, titled Stitching Solidarities, through its official Instagram account. The retrospective will subsequently tour Europe, though its other venues have yet to be revealed. Ahead of the museum exhibition, Alison Jacques will present a solo showcase of Abad’s work at Frieze Masters 2026 this coming October. The presentation coincides with what would’ve been the artist’s 80th birthday and forms part of the fair’s Spotlight section, curated by Dr. Devika Singh and Dr. Sofia Gotti.
Born in Batanes in 1946, Abad developed a practice shaped by the people, places, and political realities she encountered while traveling and living around the world. Although she’s perhaps best known for her vividly colored trapunto paintings—stitched and stuffed canvases often embellished with textiles, beads, buttons, shells, and other materials—her work encompassed subjects ranging from forced migration and racial identity to abstraction and the natural world.
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Pacita Abad At Frieze Masters 2026
The Pacita Abad presentation at Frieze Masters 2026 will focus on her Social Realist paintings from the late 1970s and early 1980s. These works reveal her sustained attention to communities affected by displacement, poverty, and political upheaval.
This formative period included paintings inspired by the Cambodian refugees Abad encountered along the Thai-Cambodian border in 1979. She documented their experiences through sketches and photographs, which later informed her Portraits of Kampuchea series, first exhibited in Bangkok in 1980. Her early Social Realist works will also form a focal point of Stitching Solidarities.
Alison Jacques will additionally unveil Angkor Wat, a large-scale trapunto painting from 1998 depicting the historic Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia. According to the gallery’s announcement, the work will be shown publicly for the first time.
The European retrospective follows Abad’s first major traveling survey, which opened at the Walker Art Center in 2023 before continuing to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Together, the upcoming presentations expand the international view of an artist whose celebrated use of color was always closely connected to questions of people, place, and solidarity.
Banner photo Pacita Abad, 1983. © Pacita Abad Art Estate courtesy of Alison Jacques official Instagram
Frequently Asked Questions
Stitching Solidarities is a major European retrospective of Pacita Abad’s work. It will open at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid in July 2027 before touring Europe.
London gallery Alison Jacques will present a solo exhibition of Pacita Abad’s work as part of the Frieze Masters 2026 Spotlight section, curated by Dr. Devika Singh and Dr. Sofia Gotti.
The presentation will focus on Abad’s Social Realist paintings from the late 1970s and early 1980s. It will also include Angkor Wat, a large-scale trapunto painting from 1998.
Angkor Wat is a large-scale trapunto painting created by Pacita Abad in 1998. It depicts the historic Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and will be shown publicly for the first time.
Pacita Abad is known for her vividly colored trapunto paintings, made using stitched and stuffed canvases often embellished with materials such as textiles, beads, buttons, and shells. Her work also addressed migration, racial identity, political realities, abstraction, and the natural world.
