Location:
Kondwi
6109 Albert St. Makati City, 1209 Manila
11am-6pm
Yavuz Gallery is pleased to present Provisions, a solo exhibition by Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan.
Provisions signifies a new juncture in the artists’ community-based practice, showcasing recent works created in their hometown of Laguna, Philippines where the artists are currently located. Produced during a period when barriers and borders were increasingly tightened, the works mark a shift inwards and an re-engagement with localised spheres of knowledge-sharing within their country of origin. Touching on themes of refuge and protection, Provisions reflect on the immense changes in global movement and experiences of social interaction, communication and identity over the past two years.
Continuing the artists’ engagement with Pandayan, the Filipino traditional practice of blacksmithing, Provisions sees the Aquilizans translate their iconic ephemeral cardboard boat and cityscape installations in the medium of metal. Re-created in an impenetrable material, the work alludes to difficulties and the changes in transitory experiences in current times. This is further explored throughout the exhibition with their new series Screwed, which sees various screwdrivers puncturing globes that have their geographical borders obscured; and Plight, a pair of framed wings rendered in a rust finish, punctured and weighed down with sticks.
In the installation Armoured, the Aquilizans articulate the idea of refuge and protection through chain mail hauberks embellished with anting-antings (amulets). Anting-antings were worn as part of Filipino battle gear, with the belief that it would grant its bearer extra protection against harm. Produced in collaboration with local craftspeople who traditionally create metal crowns for religious sculptures, the work amalgamates structures that propose an alternate definition of belief systems.
Similarly this latest iteration of Left Wing, engages with the community in the small town of Magdalena in Laguna. Each sculptural work is site-specific, changing in shape based on the location in which it is fabricated. Incorporating distinct farming tools produced within the region, the body of work amplifies local knowledge, in the artists’ entanglement with the ecologies of art and community.
In providing a survey of the Aquilizans’ recent works, Provisions seeks to highlight relocation through collaboration with localised communities in transnational spaces, continuing the artists’ investigation on how we can co-create a subsistent and reciprocal exchange in narratives and stories of communities, and ultimately of making art.
Philippines-born husband-and-wife artists Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan (b. 1965 and 1962) have been based in Brisbane, Australia since 2006. Their collaborative practice often evolve around the spheres of home and family, exploring the notions of identity and belonging, journey and displacement, sensing presences in absence and accumulating memory. They continue to process these issues through materials and objects that are both abstract and referential, objects that serve as metaphors of everyday human life.
The works of the Aquilizans have been exhibited extensively in galleries and institutions worldwide, including the Gangwon International Biennale, South Korea (2018); Sharjah Biennale, UAE (2013); Asia Pacific Triennale, Australia (2009); Singapore Biennale (2008); Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2006); Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2004), Venice Biennale, Italy (2003). Their works are included in the major collections such as the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (Australia); Singapore Art Museum; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan); Queensland Art Gallery (Australia); and Lopez Museum Foundation (Philippines).