Euro-Pinoy ties run deeper than any sea.
Not even an ocean can separate European and Filipino artists. These distant neighbors came together for a water-themed exhibit that will run at Makati’s Yuchengo Museum until May 31.
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The “Ebb and Flow: Return to Nature” exhibition is part of the Viva Europa 2022 cultural festival, which highlights shared European cultural heritage with Filipinos and celebrates the founding of the European Union (EU).
It also coincides with EU Green Week (May 30 to June 5) and the lead-up to the United Nations Ocean’s Conference (June 27 to July 1).
Under the sea
Hence, marine life and other deep-water phenomena serve as the motif of the exhibited paintings, prints, photography, and sculptures at the Yuchengco Museum.
The rationale, according to the Delegation of the EU to the Philippines, is that “waves” supply merriment, joy, relief, and comfort.
“Grab this chance to be mesmerized by the wonders of water in all its forms. European and Filipino artists have come together: to show the beauty of water, its importance, and what happens when water and the life that it sustains are nurtured or are ruined,” the delegation wrote.
César Caballero personally curated the exhibit totaling 25 artworks. He described it as a “gathering once again of multidisciplinary artists from the Philippines and several European countries maintaining connections on vital and important questions for life and the transcendental coexistence of the identity of communities and their individuals.”
Featured artists include Kizel Cotiw-an (Philippines), Ramon and Romania Diaz (Philippines and Italy), Louis Dumont (Belgium), Henri Etéve (France), Jeanette Kamphuis (Sweden), Radha Makitalo (Finland), Fara Manuel Nolasco (Philippines), Ann Pamintuan (Philippines), René Reitier (Germany), and Viviana Riccelli (Italy).
Invitation to meditation
EU Ambassador to the Philippines Luc Véron said the exhibit’s title “Ebb and Flow” refers to an invitation to meditation.
“An invitation to meditate on life. No life without water. Yet, as we, sailors, know very well, water is indomitable. Our planet is blue, yet man cannot conquer the ocean. We are just its humble servants,” Véron said.
The “Ebb and Flow: Return to Nature” exhibition is an initiative of the Delegation of the EU to the Philippines and the Yuchengco Museum. It also involved the Embassies of Belgium, Germany, Spain (together with Instituto Cervantes Manila), France (together with Alliance Francaise de Manille), Italy (together with the Philippine Italian Association and Galleria Duemila), Finland, Sweden, and artists from the University of the Philippines Baguio.
Photos via A-List & Partners Consulting Group Inc., Delegation of the EU to the Philippines, and European Union in the Philippines
