When photography was invented in the 19th century, it gave artists the freedom to move beyond purely hyperrealistic imitations of life, since photography could capture subjects with greater accuracy. While many artists continued to explore realism in their own ways, this shift in art history inspired artists to practice more experimental, innovative, and avant-garde pursuits. In the same vein, many contemporary Filipino artists today have developed their practice to create art with new concepts or alternative techniques. The art exhibits this October are no exception.
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Stephanie Syjuco at Silverlens Manila
If you can catch the tail end of Stephanie Syjuco’s exhibit at Silverlens, it’s definitely worth a visit.
While we’re familiar with the stark and brutal images of Martial Law, with all its crimes and riots, this exhibition of Stephanie Syjuco explores the cultural dimensions of that era, prompting reflections through the paradoxes and juxtapositions.
Collaborating with the archives of the Lopez Museum and Library, Syjuco combed through thousands of photographs in the Manila Chronicle archives. Her process is fascinating, as she recounts, that the folders were organized by labels rather than by time—from “interiors” to “hair.”
As a balikbayan from the US, Syjuco states in a video with Silverlens, “It was such a wonderful experience for me because I felt like I was learning a part of a time in which I had really just missed… Coming back to the kind of experience and seeing this history firsthand through the images of the photojournalists—it was a way for me to connect closer with my own relationship to the Philippines, but also to share, hopefully with the Filipino public, these images that have essentially not been seen for over 50 years. Out of that kind of excavation of the archive, I went back to my studio and sifted through about a thousand images that I had taken. Part of my process is about thinking very deeply about what images can be juxtaposed to tell new stories about history.”
“Inherent Vice” is explained as a term in conservation that refers to the tendency of an object to deteriorate because of its own characteristics. Syjuco “rephotographs” or reframes these images by layering them in a new way that alters the viewer’s encounter with the space.
The exhibition features jarring contrasts, like student protests alongside flamboyant hairstyles, creating a complex look at history from the late 1960s to 1972, just before Martial Law descended on Manila. Additionally, there are juxtapositions of beautiful flora, with captions from student protest images written in the journalists’ notes related to the events and political images.
