Poetic Heritage: Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan in Tai Kwun Contemporary

3 Sep 2021

Philippines-born artists Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan are part of a group exhibition, Poetic Heritage, where they explore the critical and creative relationships between heritage and contemporary art. Featuring the works of six artists/artist groups across the globe, they offer unique insights on how heritage provides a productive lens to connect with contemporary issues, expanding on the notion of heritage itself.

In Poetic Heritage, the husband-and-wife duo present ‘Passage: Project Another Country’; made from the assembly of cardboard dwellings individually crafted by people from various backgrounds and culture stacked together, the work excavates the notions of identity, mobility and ties amongst dispersed people. 

By examining a range of contemporary forms of art and practices, Poetic Heritage not only emphasises on the diverse connotations, but also offer up an analysis and exploration of how contemporary artists embody materials, dialog, emotional and intellectual responses to heritage. Heritage conservation thus becomes a creative and active process, rather than a passive process of simply preserving objects from the past.

Poetic Heritage is on view from now until 21 November at Tai Kwun Contemporary

Image: installation view of Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, “Poetic Heritage”, Tai Kwun Contemporary, 2021; photo by Kwan Sheung Chi