Past Solo Exhibition
Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan: Of Fragments and Impressions 28.09.2017 — 11.11.2017
Information
Event has ended
27 September – 17 November 2018
About The Exhibition
‘Of Fragments and Impressions’ is a ground-breaking exhibition staged by STPI and award-winning Brisbane-and Manila-based installation artist duo Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan in conjunction with STPI’s 15th anniversary. Impressive in scale and pivotal in its undertaking, the extensive oeuvres see the prolific artists breaking new frontiers by transforming fragments of their widely- acclaimed temporal installations into permanent material works for the very first time. From a sweeping installation of cardboard pulp and steel metal rods, to gritty shanty town houses constructed with compressed cardboard, to spectacular large-scale cyanotype collages of wings, the artists turned the STPI gallery into a stellar showcase which embodies their decades-long practice.
Fragments after In-Habit , a new series of collagraphs, reuses squashed cardboard from a 2012 collaborative artwork which toured around Australia for three years and travelled to Japan, where visitors created cardboard dwellings that were assembled onto the original work. The sickle and slippers motifs in their Left Wing and Wings series extend from significant ephemeral works such as Belok Kiri Jalan Terus (2015) and Wings (2009), which reflect the complex social realities facing agrarian communities and draw reference to countries with leftist political histories. Lastly, the Northwind series follow the trajectory of the artists’ early works in the late 90s, demonstrating the universal longing of homesickness and separation.
A milestone achievement, these outstanding works chronicle the artists’ personal history and are triumphant testaments to their artistic breadth.
This show is generously supported by the Friends of STPI.
Find out more about the working process here.
Regular guided tours (begins 5 Oct):
Thu: 11.30am, Sat: 2pm
About the artist
Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan
Residency in 2016
Alfredo Juan Aquilizan (b. 1962, Cagayan Valley, Philippines; based in Los Baños, Philippines) and Maria Isabel Gaudinez-Aquilizan (b. 1965, Manila, Philippines; based in Los Baños, Philippines) are a collaborative duo whose practice explores themes of displacement, memory, belonging and community. Using unassuming materials embedded with personal, cultural and symbolic meanings, they create mixed-media installations that reflect on the transitory nature of home and identity.
Processes of collection and co-creation feature prominently in the Aquilizans’ works. Often facilitating projects that centre on shared human experiences, they position art-making as a system grounded in communal interaction and involvement. In In-Habit: Project Another Country (2012–ongoing), the artists invite local communities to build cardboard houses that fill the exhibition space with an itinerant, ever-growing presence. The use of cardboard references the balikbayan box, or “repatriate box” that overseas Filipinos use to send items home, symbolising bittersweet expressions of love and longing. This is accompanied by a video work on the plight, resilience and creativity of the Badjao children, a marginalised seafaring ethnic group in the Philippines whose fragile stilt houses resemble the makeshift houses crafted by the audience.
Isabel Aquilizan obtained her Bachelor of Communication Arts from Assumption College in Makati City in 1986. Alfredo Aquilizan received his BFA from the Philippine Women University's College of Music and Fine Arts in Manila in 1986 and his MFA from the Norwich School of Art and Design in 1996. Their works can be found in numerous collections including The Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum; MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai; Museum MACAN, Jakarta; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney; and Singapore Art Museum.
