Narratives of women are often expressed through gendered concepts of

art and labor like weaving and textile. On the one hand, this tendency

recognizes the distinct character of the spaces and roles

through which women have persisted. On the other hand, it is also

a stereotype that may possess liberative qualities. When unexamined, it can

equally be capable of unnecessarily delimiting and defining struggles where

concepts of gender and identity are central.

I am painfully aware of the paradox of t his exhibition, where I,

a non-female artist myself, am tasked of "weaving" the words of women.

However, I am also cognizant of the danger of conjuring, consciously

or otherwise, an atmosphere of segregation rather than solidarity.

Women, after all, are not at all exempt from being bearers

of patriarchal praxis.

When we speak of Martial Law, we are likely to summon

images of massive protests in urban centers,

or clashes between soldiers and rebels, technocrats

and intellectuals, who were, more often than not, male.

There are many possible reasons for these blind spots in our collective

memory; among them, the limitations of the many different aspects of

documentation, the sheer difficulty of navigation, the diminished gaze of

a restrained media, as well as the more deeply rooted prejudice agains

women, indigenous groups, and Islamic cultures.

In the making of these works, three key questions dominated my frame of mind:

Through the recovery, reconstruction, or problematization of images,

how may we create new lieux de mémoire?

What possibilities does art hold in accounting for the layered narratives of

violence, resistance, and survival, when traditional documentation is scant

or incapable of comprehending the gravity of these experiences?

How do we mobilize traditional techniques and forms while recognizing

that they are not merely colorful markers of identity, but also

contested terrains and slippery slopes that are perhaps complicit in the

continuity of sophisticated forms of violence?

Karl Castro

Lead Artwork Developer

THE CONCERNS OF WOMEN ARE NOT SOLELY

THE REALM OF WOMEN; THEY SHOULD BE THE CONCERN OF ALL,

REGARDLESS OF GENDER IDENTITY.

TODAY, WE ARE CHALLENGED TO CONTEND WITH

THE GLARING LACUNAE AMID THE PORTENTOUS ASCENT OF

THE DICTATOR'S DESCENDANTS. They are two sides of the same coin.

THE WORKS IN THIS EXHIBITION ARE ATTEMPTS TO GO

BEYOND MERELY ILLUSTRATING OR GARNISHING THESE

SALVAGED NARRATIVES. THEY ARE ATTEMPTS TO STAKE,

EVEN TO EMBODY, THE VITAL ROLE OR ARTISTIC PRODUCTION

IN THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE.

LESS RESONANT IN OUR RECOLLECTED VISION

ARE VISIONS OF WOMEN, REMOTE MOUNTAIN

AND ISLAND COMMUNITIES, AND NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES

MADE TO ENDURE THE LONG REACH OF THE DICTATORSHIP

ACROSS TIME AND SPACE.