Philippine Photography Scene

World Press Photo 2009 Exhibition | Manila

2009-07-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

SCHEDULE

The Podium
Sat 01 Aug 09 - Exhibition open for public
Mon 03 Aug 09 - 18:30 h. Official opening
Sat 08 Aug 09 - Last day of exhibition

The Block, SM North Edsa
Sun 09 Aug 09 - Exhibition open for public
Mon 10 Aug 09 - Official opening
Wed 19 Aug 09 - Last day of exhibition

Mall of Asia
Thu 20 Aug 09 - Exhibition open for public
Thu 20 Aug 09 - 18:30 h. Official opening
Sun 23 Aug 09 - Last day of exhibition

EXHIBITION VISITING HOURS

Monday - Thursday : 10:00-21:00
Friday - Sunday : 10:00-22:00

Exhibition is being organized by Ateneo de Manila University Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo and supported by SM Malls/ SM Prime Holdings, and Unilever Philippines.

Portfolio Review Days @ Silverlens

2009-07-14T03:46:00.000-07:00

Moderated by Rachel Rillo, Isa Lorenzo and Others

A portfolio review is a good way to evaluate in which direction your photography is going. A regular objective review is essential in any photographer's growth, either as a shooter of found photographs or as a creator of staged images. Three portfolio review dates are available on an appointment basis. The photographer is encouraged to choose one date, all reviewers will be available to see their work.

September 5, September 19 or October 3
Saturdays, 1-4 pm
Fee: Php 1,000

TO REGISTER: Call Leonore at 8160044 or 09052650873, email manage@silverlensphoto.com 50% Reservation Fee required. Balance due on the first day of classes.

Kaleidoscope by Ina Ayala, Mintio and MM Yu @ Silverlens Gallery

2009-07-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Opening reception: 29 July 2009 (6-9pm)

Kaleidoscope will be the very first full-color show by Silverlens Gallery. The show is a mix of three artists, Ina Ayala, Mintio and MM Yu, with very different perceptions of space and reality. The show captures the polychromatic urban soul through Ina Ayala’s painterly abstractions, Mintio’s explosions of light and MM Yu’s street documentary style.

Kaleidoscope reveals the patterns and textures that make up the vivid cityscape and divulges each artists’ intimate and personal perception of reality.

Images (L-R): Ina Ayala, Untitled 1, 2009; Mintio, detail, Concrete Euphoria: Mongkok, Hong Kong, 2009; MM Yu, detail, Colored Straw, 2009

Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu

2009-07-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

Balaanong Bahandi
A Fundraising Photo Exhibit
Cathedral Museum of Cebu
3 July 2009

A fundraising exhibit for the book 'Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu' which is the ultimate guide to the Archdiocese’s architectural heritage, showcasing all the churches in Cebu from the earliest missions to contemporary parishes, including all of the outstanding artistry they contain: bas reliefs expressed in coral stone, carved images in ivory and wood, ceiling paintings by the famed Canuto Avila and Raymundo Francia, handwritten pages in canonical books, bronze bells, and many other tangible manifestations of over 400 years of Christianity in Cebu.

There will be a pre-selling of the 300page full color book of which buyers can avail of the 20% discount.

For more details, click here.

Photographs in the book were photographed by Estan Cabigas (who also maintains Simbahan.net, a blog on Philippine Heritage Churches), Mark Andrew Jorolan and Lorens Gibb Lapinig.

Panangidayew Photo Exhibit

2009-07-01T02:50:00.001-07:00

See details here.

Manilart 09

2009-06-25T03:32:00.000-07:00

MANILART O9, is the first international art fair to be hosted in the Philippines. It is participated in by the country's leading art galleries and those of the Asian region. This is where art collectors and enthusiasts can view the finest examples of Contemporary Art today and gather together to exchange views and insights about the world of art.

The opening night, which is by-invitation-only, will serve as a preview to the entire art fair and will be held from 6 to 11 pm on July 16, 2009.

MANILART 09 will then open its doors to the general public from 11 am to 8 pm on July 17 to 19, 2009. Admission tickets are priced at Php200. or US$5.00 each.

Venue is the newly renovated NBC TENT perfectly nestled inside the country's most progressive development to date - BONIFACIO GLOBAL CITY.

DPP Magazine celebrates its 3rd Anniversary

2009-06-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Digital Photographer Philippines (DPP) magazine celebrates its 3rd year Anniversary at Fully Booked store at Bonifacio Hight Street on June 27th, from 10AM-midnight. Several speakers are invited to conduct seminars including Harvey Chua, GM of AdPhoto, Inc. on the business of photography, and Atty. Rod Vera on copyright law.

For details, click here (you must be logged on to access the page at the DPP Forum).

Tom Epperson

2009-06-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

From 'Frozen' series © Tom Epperson

Tom Epperson is an American commercial photographer based in the Philippines for the past 23 years. I find his personal work, most especially his use of ice, very unique! (see under Personal Work and Prints for Sale).

Interview with Henry Bateman

2009-06-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

I first met Henry Bateman through Ross Capili last year during an exhibit at One Workshop Gallery. He was trained as a painter but decided to abandon the latter to pursue photo-based art. I was at the opening of his 'Pixel Perfect' exhibit and have asked if he’s willing to talk about his work and am glad he agreed.

How long have you been a painter before you decided to shift completely to photo-based art?

I have been painting and drawing for most of my life, but it was in the early 80’s that I did a piece and realised that I had some skill at this painting lark. It was around the same time that my parents realised I had some talent and stopped pushing me to get “a real job”. Although I had from the 70’s been working in theatre as a lighting and set designer and scenic artist this realization prompted me to go to Art School. I applied and was accepted by the Claremont School of Art in 1983 and held my first solo exhibition in the latter half of 1984.

Please provide a brief background on your work, and how long have you been working with photo-based art?

I have been working with photo-based art for about 9 years now. I first started out making the “neon series” works which over a couple of years morphed into the “ripple series’. When I first arrived in the Philippines the change of scene was such that I went through what I call my “tourist phase”, taking photos of all the wonders that beheld me. But after about 12 months, as my knowledge of Pinoy culture grew, I started making the pixilated photographs with their abstract overtones.

'Broken Spaces' © Henry Bateman

Can you relate to us what was the impetus that made you decide to focus on this kind of work?

It was whilst I was working on a commissioned carved painting in 2000 that I came across digital photography and the post production capabilities of the computer. I had an analogue SLR which I used as an instant drawing device.

But the computers capabilities fascinated me and I soon had a 2M point and shoot and I started playing with the various software programs( Irfanview, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP and Photoshop). After a couple of years I upgraded to a 5M point and shoot and upon arriving in the Philippines I upgraded to a DSLR.

The computer software is at the heart of what I do, it enables me to stamp my ideas and view of the world upon the photographs I take. For me the camera is the means of obtaining visuals to work upon in the computer. It’s like the paint and the brushes each have their capabilities and their limitations, whilst the software is the actual painting process. I guess I am still a painter at heart which is why people say that my works look more like paintings than photos.

'New York Taxi' © Henry Bateman

It is interesting to note how you decompose the basic image structure and concentrate instead on the basic pixels to provide form in the work you do. Would you mind sharing with us who have influenced your work and style?

The Dutch artist Piet Mondrian is a major influence on my work. The strength of the underlying structure in his work, the grid, holds together some interesting and at times complex ideas. His “New York Boogie Woogie” almost dances before your eyes in a random fashion that changes upon subsequent viewings and is only contained by its underlying grid. Just like the Jazz impros it is talking about, the free form is based upon an underling structure the holds it all together. Jackson Pollock is another artist whose work relies upon an underlying structure, implied rather than expressly stated, that holds his grandiose expressions of joie de vie together.

And then there is the 20th Century master, Pablo Picasso. His ability to look at things in a new way and his skill at expressing his vision holds me in awe. In his “Portrait of Sylvette (1954)” he manages to capture the many facets of her personality from the innocence of childhood through the bravado of adolescence to the worldly wise woman that lurks underneath.

'Remembering Batangas' © Henry Bateman

I noticed that some of your art pieces were composed of works that were photographed on different occasions. When do you call when a piece is done?

The piece determines when it is finished. Photos can sit on my hard drive for months, years even, waiting for the companions that will complete it or I may get them on the same day. With “Remembering Batangas” the center image was made on my first trip to a friend’s home in the province. The top and bottom images were made after a subsequent visit almost a year later. When I had made the later images they just fitted nicely with the earlier image. Whereas the images from “Gateway I” came from the same photo shoot. There is no hard and fast rule, it happens when it happens.

'Tree' © Henry Bateman

Can you share with us your creative process?

With the camera it is pretty intuitive, almost like street photography, although what I shoot will depend upon what I am thinking about at the time. Like with the Gateway Suite, I went out to investigate the Filipino mall phenomenon. I had no fixed ideas of what I was going to shoot; I just shot what caught my eye whilst having that idea in the back of my mind.

When I got the images on the computer then my critical facilities came into play as I worked on them. Deconstructing them from the found object into the idea the object represented and then combining the ideas into an interesting (well to me) comment about phenomena.

Can you share with us who is Henry Bateman when not making art?

I enjoy playing chess, but usually lose 2 games out of 3. I like watching movies, dramas & comedies mostly, action flicks leave me cold. I enjoy reading and am currently re-reading books from my youth; it is interesting to see how much my ideas have changed. I am also teaching myself Dreamweaver and Flash.

For updates on Henry Bateman's works, please visit his blog.

(via email)

VALOR Photo Exhibit

2009-06-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

VALOR : Sa Manlulupig, Di Ka Pasisiil

An exhibit by Jeryc Garcia
June 26 - July 6 2009
First Hawaiian Bank Gallery, Honolulu Academy of Arts,
Waipahu Filipino Community Center
Honolulu, Hawaii
For details. email:noglbinc@gmail.com

About the Exhibit

VALOR: Sa Manlulupig, Di Ka Pasisiil (To Invaders, You Shall Never Surrender) is an exhibit in honor of the generation of Filipino men and women who fought for liberty and freedom during the dark days of the Second World War.

The exhibit features portraits of surviving Filipino WWII veterans in the Philippines. This includes members of the Philippine Army and Constabulary who fought in the Battle of Bataan and survived the Death March, and civilians who joined the guerilla movement in the years of the Japanese occupation. These photographs were taken at their homes and at veteran gatherings in various places all over the country.

Presented with their portraits are the stories of these veterans – about surviving as a POW in Capas, about traveling across mountains to pick up ammunition and supplies from Allied submarines, about fighting outnumbered side-by-side with American comrades-in-arms, cheating death, staying alive, and never losing hope.

The exhibit hopes to create a record of the lives of these veterans for a new generation of Filipinos. To give faces to the names in books and on stone walls. Though these heroes finally pass quietly into the night, they shall never be forgotten.

Honolulu was chosen for the exhibit not only because of its large Filipino and veteran community, but also because of the link between Pearl Harbor and the Philippines: On December 8, 1941, right after bombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanese came and dropped bombs on Camp John Hay in Baguio and Clark Field in Pampanga.

Also on show are wartime photos from the archives of Philippine Airlines. PAL put its own two aircraft and pilots into service during the war, evacuating American airmen to Australia until one was shot down in Mindanao and the other was destroyed in an air raid in Indonesia. As such, PAL is a war veteran in its own right. In 1946, PAL became the first Asian carrier to cross the Pacific when it brought 40 American GIs home to Oakland, California from Manila.

Jeryc Garcia is a travel photographer based in the Philippines.

Angkor Photo Workshop 2009

2009-06-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

The Free Angkor Photo Workshops 2009 edition is calling for candidates. The free workshop is open to Asian photographers aged not over 28 (born after October 1980). Potential participants must be working either as freelance or staff photographer, or be studying in courses including photography.

The photographers must submit their application along the guidelines provides (see below); the workshop is conducted in the English language, and students must bring a DSLR camera and a laptop. They must have sufficient knowledge of an editing program (such as i-View media pro, Bridge or Aperture) and a basic understanding of Photoshop.

We will select a group of about 24 participants and provide at least 4 tutors chosen among internationally recognized photographers. The participants will be provided with accommodation
and a substantial per diem for the duration of the workshop. Travel expenses to and from Siem Reap will not be paid. We advise potential participants to look for their own sponsors for that part.

During the workshop lasting one week, the photographers are allowed to work on a story of their choice, but will need to submit it to the organizing team research which reserves the right to refuse a subject, and will need to research it before getting to the workshop.

Deadline: August 2009

Workshop dates:
November 22 to November 28, 2009.

Workshop 2009 organizers/facilitators:
Roland Neveu (based in Bangkok)
Patrick de Noirmont (Paris & Bangkok)
Olivier Nilsson (Bangkok)

Tutors (partial list):
Antoine d’Agata (Magnum Paris)
Patrick de Noirmont (AP Paris & OnAsia Bangkok)
Olivier Nilsson (Picture editor OnAsia Bangkok)
Philip Blenkinsop, Nic Dunlop,
Tim Page, John McDermott and many more.

Download Application here.

For updates. please check APW blog from time to time.

Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) Photo Contest

2009-06-17T03:26:00.000-07:00

ACB invites photographers to zoom in on biodiversity

Calling all professional, amateur and student photographers! The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is now accepting entries to the First ASEAN-wide photo contest “Zooming in on Biodiversity”.

In partnership with the European Commission, ASEAN Member States, and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, the photo contest seeks to popularize the values of biodiversity through the medium of photography.

ACB Executive Director Rodrigo U. Fuentes said only a small fraction of the global population, mostly scientists and environmentalists, understands the role that biodiversity plays in humankind’s survival.

“This lack of knowledge often translates to the lack of care for the very environment. There is an urgent need to popularize biodiversity and one effective way is to use the power of photos. By translating biodiversity and its relationship with health, food security, climate change and other everyday human issues into powerful images, we can generate a greater awareness for this often-difficult-to-grasp concept,” Fuentes said.

The contest will run until 30 August 2009 with a total of US$7,700 total prize at stake. First placers in the three categories will have an opportunity to exhibit their winning photos and attend the ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity in Singapore on 21 – 23 October 2009 for free. Open to all residents of ASEAN Member States Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam, the contest welcomes entries which are exclusive to the contest, unpublished, and not submitted to previous contests. Entries should capture various images related to biodiversity (plants, animals, marine life, ASEAN Heritage Parks) or the many benefits that biodiversity brings to human beings, its importance, the threats biodiversity face (deforestation, climate change), or how biodiversity affects lives. Photos showing initiatives to protect biodiversity resources such as plants, animals, and marine species are also welcome. Entries can also depict biodiversity as source of food (food and agriculture); biodiversity as source of medicine (health and medicine); biodiversity as source of shelter; biodiversity and climate change; the aesthetic value of biodiversity; biodiversity as source of livelihood; and biodiversity and ecotourism.

For more info, click here.

SUNDANCE

2009-06-16T01:07:00.000-07:00

SUNDANCE
by Kawayan de Guia, Neal Oshima, Julius Clar and Allan Razo,
Silverlens Gallery
June 24, 2009, WED, 6-9pm

Silverlens Gallery proudly presents Sundance, a collection of photograms by Kawayan de Guia, Neal Oshima, Allan Razo and Julius Clar. The artists take a back-to-basics approach and utilize alternative photographic processes--Platinum Prints, Cyanotypes, Kallitypes (Vandyke Prints) and Gum Bichromate Prints--that antedate the first silver gelatin photographs by more than a century.

Amid the digital age, of hyper-progression and technological advancement, de Guia, Oshima, Razo and Clar take a retro step to the most basic and organic of photographic processes using the sun as their 'darkroom'. Each process is an arduous one, subject to uncontrollable variables that demand fastidious experimentation. Each uniquely imperfect print is a suggestive abstraction of its original subject, this artisanal nature contributes to its longevity.

Sundance is about contemporary interest in the archaic processes that were developed at the birth of photography. It has been suggested that the alternative process movement is a reaction to the anti-photography esthetic of post-modernist art. It has also been noted that the widespread interest in processes like the Daguerreotype, glass-plate collodion, albumen printing, camera obscura, etc. coincided with the advent of digital photography. It should be further noted that with the predominance of digital imagemaking even silver-gelatin printing, analogue black and white or color photography conducted in a darkroom, could now be considered an alternative process.

For a contemporary photographer exploration of these processes is a
combination of archeology and alchemy. Ancient techniques must be researched in archaic tomes and unstable potions must be mixed in near darkness. Obscure papers must be procured, cut, sized and carefully handcoated with light-sensitive solutions. In this respect it is the very opposite of digital photography and for some of its most passionate adherents this is possibly its greatest attraction.

Others are attracted by the tremendous diversity that these processes offer. Digital photography, for all of its ease of use, tends to produce prints that look very much the same, particularly when compared to the range of images produced by these archaic means. Some find the evidence of the hand of the artist in the final print and the unrepeatable nature of many of the techniques deeply satisfying. Platinum and palladium printing, for example, offer a tonality that even the most technically sophisticated digital printers have yet to match.

For the collector, when the guaranteed lifespan of an inkjet print is a few decades, these prints offer proven longevity. Excellent prints from the earliest days of the medium remain. Many of these processes are as archivally stable as the paper that they are printed on. But, for a contemporary collector, their real value is their unique beauty, expressed through the vision and craft of the artist who made them.

—Neal Oshima, June 2009

Sundance by Kawayan de Guia, Neal Oshima, Allan Razo and Julius Clar opens at 6 pm in Silverlens Gallery on June 24 and runs until the July 25, 2009.

For inquiries, contact Silverlens Gallery at 2/F YMC Bldg. II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati, 816-0044, 0905-2650873, or manage@silverlensphoto.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10am–7pm and Saturdays 1–6pm. www.silverlensphoto.com.

Image: Detail, Allan Razo, Shell 3, 2005, and Cactus, 2004

Mus-mus' @ Paris Project

2009-06-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

@Paris is a return to an early and sustaining subject of photography -- Paris.

Jurors: Stephen Shore and Gil Blank

Deadline: July 14, 2009

As with @600 Mus-Mus will strive to use the ease and power of the web combined with the talents and camaraderie of the global photography community to develop a striking online archive of images. This time the focus is around this singular place, Paris, as seen through the vision of photographers from all parts of the world.

It is fitting that Paris, lovingly called "The City of Light" should have been one of the first and most thoroughly photographic and photographed places on earth. The list of Paris' photographers runs from Daguerre and Nadar to Brassai, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson and from Atget to Man Ray, Kertez and Klein and many more, a remarkable number of photography's greatest artists made their mark 'a travers' Paris. Their photographs and publications have fixed in our mind's eye a vision of Paris that is beautiful, often as edgy as elegant, and always complex.

Submission details
Conditions

12 Artists Short-listed ofr 2009 Ateneo Art Awards

2009-06-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

The Ateneo Art Gallery along with presenters Shangri-La Plaza, Unionbank, Metro Society, Style of the Philippine Star, and sponsors Smart Communications and the Lifestyle Network are pleased to announce the twelve artists short-listed for the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards. The artists were chosen for their outstanding exhibitions over the past year from among over a hundred nominations received during the initial judging held on 8 June 2009.

The short-listed artists are:

Martha Atienza for Man in Suit, 1 - 22 April 2009, Green Papaya Art Projects

Alan Balisi for Spacing Out, 8 - 29 September 2008, Blanc Compound

Ringo Bunoan for Archiving Roberto Chabet, 3 March - 4 April 2009, Vargas Museum

Joey Cobcobo for 8 Printmakers, 8 - 30 September 2008, Avellana Art Gallery

Kiri Dalena for Keeping the Faith, 13 November 2008 - 4 April 2009, Lopez Memorial Museum

Kidlat De Guia for Sleeping White Elephants, 7 - 30 June 2008, Galleria Duemila

Christina Dy for Soaplands, 25 July - 30 August 2008, CCP

Patricia Eustaquio for Death to the Major Viva Minor, 16 October -22 November 2008, SLab

Jan Leeroy New for Terratoma II (War of the Worlds) in Singapore Biennale 2008, 11 September - 16 November 2008, Singapore City Hall

Goldie Poblador for The Perfume Bar: Collected Memories and Ephemeral Representations in Thesis Exhibition, 24 March - 3 April 2009, Corredor Gallery, UP Diliiman

Pam Yan Santos for Like, 3 - 24 November 2008, Blanc Compound

Michelline Syjuco for Armadillon, 8 August - 8 October 2008, Mag:net Gallery

This year's crop truly embodies the theme of this year's Awards, The Next Wave, with its selection of diverse and contemporary art practices ranging from installation, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture signifying the innovative spirit of this prestigious contemporary art prize. With the exception of Christina Dy, all the short-listed artists are first-time nominees.

From among the twelve artists, three will be chosen as recipients of the Awards. The Jury will be meeting to determine the three winners on 29 June 2009. The results will be revealed during the Awards ceremony on 13 August 2009 at the Grand Atrium, Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City in the midst of an exhibition of the short-listed artists' works that will be on show from 7 - 17 August 2009.

For more information, please contact Amanda Legasto, Project Coordinator for the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards at 4260088/09176283362 or email alegasto@ateneo. edu.

COME-IN: Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany

2009-06-09T04:14:00.001-07:00

Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Tall Galleries
June 23 - Septermber 15, 2009

"Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany" investigates the connection between fine art and applied design in twenty-five artistic positions by means of individual objects, sculptures, installations, videos and – in the exhibition catalogue – inserts.

At first glance, the mobilia, objects and interiors appear to possess an "obvious" identity as "furniture", "luminaries" or "interiors". At second glance, however, they are too uncomfortable, colourful and eccentric, all too clearly geared to our perception or a situational communicative event. They represent ideas, projects, scenic reinterpretations of situations conditioned by certain furnishing and architectural elements. The interior spaces chosen by many of the contributing artists form links between aspects of contemporary history and their own biography and critical aesthetics.

The Manila exhibition will also be featuring local artists’ works. Curator Dr. Renate Goldmann will be in Manila during the opening to give a lecture on the exhibit.

“Come-in: Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany” is an exhibit by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e. V. (ifa) / Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations presented by the Goethe-Institut Manila, Metropolitan Museum of Manila and with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.

For more info, click here.

Train of Thought Photo Exhibit

2009-06-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

O80 & ROAM MAGAZINE proudly present TRAIN OF THOUGHTS

A photography exhibit about the Philippine National Railway by Bahaghari, Jake Verzosa, Paolo Picones, and Veejay Villafranca @ ROAM THE X Travel Fair
June 12, 2009 Independence Day, Cubao X
Slideshow Projection Screening time: 9, 10, and 11pm

Video editing by Teks Pabuayon
Music by Malek Lopez

Basic Collections Management Seminar

2009-06-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Basic Collections Management Seminar
First of a three-part seminar series
June 18 and 19, 2009
Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The Basic Collections Management Module
Yuchengco Museum

Coverage:

Documentation and Preventive Conservation
Collections Registration
Accessioning
Inventory
Audit
Condition Reporting,
Loan agreement making
Photography
Environmental control and handling
Basic collection management policy

Intermediate and Advanced Collection Management September and November 2009.

For registration and more details, contact Elma Abrina of the Yuchengco Museum at 889-1234 or e-mail abrina_programs@yuchengcomuseum.org; or contact the Lopez Museum at 631-2417.

For more details, visit Museum Foundation of the Philippines website.

Hidden Treasures at Ortigas Foundation Library

2009-05-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

The Ortigas Foundation Library launched last May 21, 2009 a photo exhibit entitled “Hidden Treasures” featuring rarely documented Spanish era churches, which received overwhelming positive reviews.

Many fine books and countless photographs have been published in the last ten years extolling the charms of the major Spanish Era churches of the Philippines. Over this same period Atty. Rafael Ortigas, Jr. President of the Ortigas Foundation, started an ambitious project to document all Spanish Era churches in the Philippines from the Manila Cathedral to the most remote provincial parish. He assigned photographers Betty Lalana and Boy Arboleda to photograph as many as they could locate using the Catholic directory, old maps and other sources. With his encouragement and unfailing assistance they have found many “hidden treasures” - churches and other structures not commonly featured and hardly ever visited by tourists either local or foreign. This exhibition is only a small selection from their ongoing work to date, which has located and photographed over 300 churches, in addition to bell towers, elegant cemetery gates and ancient ruins of foundries, fortifications and watch towers.

Traveling by every conceivable mode of transportation including by foot, they have managed to reach the most obscure parishes and photograph picturesque facades, architectural details and timeless Filipino landscapes. Hopefully this glimpse of the unspoiled Philippines will inspire more laymen and religious leaders to value and respect their ancient places of worship and preserve their spiritual integrity for generations to come.

The Ortigas Foundation Library has a large permanent collection of Philippine research material and vintage photographs and is dedicated to both the study and preservation of Philippine historical material. The Ortigas Foundation Library assisted in mounting this traveling exhibition which will start visiting selected schools during the school year. The Ortigas Foundation Library is located at the 2nd Floor, Ortigas Building, Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City. The library is open from 9:00a.m. to 6:00pm daily. Entrance is free.

Kagyat: A Photo Exhibit (HK)

2009-05-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Kagyat: A Photo Exhibit
(Part of the 4th Philippine Arts Festival - HK 2009)
Opening Reception: June 6, 2009 - 3:00 pm
The Peak Galleria, The Peak, Hongkong

Participating photographers:

Edwin Bacasmas
Bien Bautista
George Cabig, Jr.
Neil Daza
Angelo De Silva
Francis Galbones
Alberto Garcia
Luis Liwanag
Aldrin Monsod
Dante Peralta
Dennis Rito
Mario Rivera
Edgar Tapan
Donald Tapan
George Tapan
Harvey Tapan
Edwin Tuyay
Chito Vecina
Veejay Villafranca

Exhibit will be shown until June 30, 2009. For more info about the exhibit, please contact The Philippine Arts and Cultural Society at 85297039970 or email philartshk@yahoo.com.

Documentary Photographer Rick Rocamora to launch a book on Filipino World War II Soldiers

2009-05-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

Book Launch
Filipino World War II Soldiers: America's Second-Class Veterans
by Rick Rocamora

Thursday, May 21, 2009- 6-9pm
San Francisco Exposure Gallery,
801 Howard Street near Moscone Center

Sunday, May 24, 2009- 2-5pm
San Francisco Main Public Library
Grove and Larkin near San Francisco City Hall
(Civic Center Bart Station)

Rick Rocamora took pictures of Filipino WWII veterans for 18 years as they wait to be recognized as equal to US veterans.

Rocamora has documented the lives of the Filipino veterans, still clinging to hard-won medals, military commendations and scraps of uniforms as they make their way in San Francisco’s toughest neighborhoods. Rocamora’s deep connection to the veterans allows a rare view into their difficult but always dignified lives, and creates a poignant story of pain, persistence and hope.

Rocamora’s images have been part of investigative stories on the abuse of veterans in North Richmond, California, Medicare scam in San Francisco that used them, exhibitions in the US Congress and other venues and countless presentations and photo essays about their plight. His images have been part of their struggle and have been credited in inspiring others to advocate for equity for the veterans.

His photo-documentary work, including words of supporters, historical anecdotes and chronology is now part of the book “AMERICA’S SECOND-CLASS VETERANS”.

Eli Reed, a member of Magnum said, “The book should be viewed as an important element in the failed promise of delivering the promise of America. Rocamora admirably performs this difficult task by photographing the lives of these men in a sensitive, straightforward, and respectable manner. He doesn’t add unnecessary flourishes that might take you away from their story. He leaves you to understand that these images are about these men and not about him. When you look into the eyes of these men, you will truly feel their pain. You will also feel the shame of knowing how they were left to drift by our country after helping us in our time of need. They went through hell and were then abandoned. Rick Rocamora has not abandoned these men and through his photographs of their lives, he insures that we will not forget them either”.

Sandra Phillips, Senior Curator of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art said, “Like Dorothea Lange, Rocamora focuses his attention on the people he wants us to look at and think about. These are ordinary people. They fought alongside American soldiers in World War II in the Pacific, often at great personal cost. They are Filipinos, living here in the United States, promised benefits by the United States government that many still expect. Most of these men are also very poor, though it is not their poverty that we remember most, but their gentleness and bravery. Rocamora reminds us, in these quiet and dignified pictures, of the value and integrity of these people, and of their strong sense of community-which sustains them, even as they suffer from careless neglect”.

Rocamora will sign books and talk about his varied experiences as a documentary photographer and an advocate for the struggle of Filipino WW II veterans.

Source: http://filvetsbookproject.blogspot.com/

Final Call for Nominations for the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards

2009-05-18T04:16:00.000-07:00

The Ateneo Art Gallery would like to announce the final call for nominations for the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards. Nominations are on-going, and will close on 1 June 2009 at 5pm. Nomination forms are available at the Ateneo Art Gallery (apparently the Ateneo Art Gallery website, where the forms can also be downloaded, is not up). All entries must be accompanied by the necessary visual documentation and received at the following address:

Ateneo Art Gallery
Ground Floor, Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University
Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights , Quezon City Philippines 1108

For more information, please contact, Amanda Legasto, 2009 Ateneo Art Awards Project Coordinator at 4266488 or alegasto@ateneo. edu

Seeing You, Seeing Me: Contemporary Portraiture

2009-05-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

Seeing You, Seeing Me
Contemporary Portraiture
Manila Contemporary Gallery
May 16 - June 7, 2009
Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension

Featuring works of Ambie Abano, Nikki Abaya, Catalina Africa, Ringo Bunoan, Bea Camacho, Valeria Cavestany, Francis Commeyne, Noli Coronado, RM De Leon, Kiko Escora, Jed Escueta, Brendan Goco, Joey Ibay, Jon Jaylo, Maria Jeona, Kow Leong Kiang, Budi Agus Kuswara, Kim Landicho, At Maculangan, Wawi Navarroza, Elaine Navas, Renan Ortiz, Jaco Payawal, Alan Po, Jucar Raquepo, Alwin Reamillo, Kaloy Sanchez, Judy Freya Sibayan, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Angelo Suarez, JA Tan, Gerry Tan, Steve Tirona, Tatong Torres, MM Yu, Costantino Zicarelli.

Curators Talk on Innovations and Developments in Contemporary Art Abroad

2009-05-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Lopez Memorial Museum, in cooperation with Art Cabinet Philippines, features Melbourne-based curator Jeff Khan in a talk on his role as Artistic Director of Next Wave, a multidisciplinary festival with 400 Australian and international artists. 2008 Singapore Biennale curator Joselina Cruz participates as reactor sharing innovations and developments in the recent biennale themed Wonder and the current Philippine art scene.

The talk is scheduled on Friday, May 22 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at the Lopez Memorial Museum. As slots are limited, reservations are required. The Lopez Memorial Museum is at the ground floor, Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Pasig City. Museum days and hours are Mondays to Saturdays, 8am-5pm, except Sundays and holidays. For info, call 631-2417 or email lmmpasig@gmail.com.

Via: Museum Foundation of the Philippines

Related link:
http://www.artcabinetphilippines.com/home/announcements.html

Call for Participants: 5th PCP Professional Photojournalism Seminar-Workshop

2009-05-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

5th Professional Photojournalism Seminar-Workshop
27 – 31 August June 2009
FSC Forest Complex, Subic Bay Freeport Zone

The Philippine Center for Photojournalism, an organization established in 1997 by noted Filipino photojournalists working in various local and international newspapers and publications, is now accepting participants to the 5th Professional Photojournalism Seminar-Workshop to be held on 27-31 August 2009 at the FSC Forest Complex, Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The live-in workshop aims to raise the level of understanding of the roots and current photography and photojournalism trends, enhance artistic and aesthetic practice of the profession as well as promote ethical values. Practical exercises include guided coverage of Subic environs and nearby communities.

The workshop, to be facilitated by some of the country’s top photojournalists and educators including Alex Baluyut, Ernie Sarmiento, Jimmy Domingo, Joan Bondoc, Luis Liwanag, VJ Villafranca, Paolo Picones, Jake Verzosa and Jose Torres, is designed for freelancers, newspaper staff photographers, government and corporate photographers and information officers.

Interested participants, with digital SLR or point and shoot cameras, will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please email to mhsepe@gmail.com for registration forms and procedures.

The subsidized workshop fee is P6,000 inclusive of food and accommodation, materials, complementary PCP limited edition t-shirt and certificate of completion. Transportation to venue and back is not covered by the workshop fee.

The workshop is supported by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

For more information, send via text your email address to +639189212878 and materials will be sent by email.