How can better-planned cities create the conditions for more creative, livable, and resilient urban environments? “Makati Urban Recipes for a City’s Survival,” a colloquium held at the Ayala Museum on September 15, brought together architects and practitioners from the fields of urbanism and the creative economy to discuss how design, planning, and collaboration can address […]
‘Rituals of Recovery’: Honing into the Practices of Self-Care
Shannah Orencio’s Rituals of Recovery is her new exhibit at the Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, debuting on May 4, 2024. Orencio paints flowers in different perspectives, focusing on creating a colorful mirage of flora piled on top of each other.
The exhibit, as described by Carlomar Daoana, provides a view of the natural world that embodies the needs of humanity well: routine and the need for recovery in discovering the meaning of the rituals we create.
“Caring for something—or somebody—is a species of ritual,” they said. “After all, to attend to the well-being of another living being takes time, repetition, attentiveness. This attentiveness to another being—to fully exercise one’s capacity to care—is a ritual of recovery.”
Flowery Effects
The paintings render this collage-like look where they seem to exist on top of the other in a messy compression. Orencio reportedly would take the flowers that she pruned in her garden and would use that disconnected chaotic array of flora as inspiration/models for the artworks she created.
In a strange way, the works present a careful craft not just in the art of painting, but in gardening. One has to be deliberate when pruning stems, leaves, and flowers so that it looks aesthetically cohesive without affecting the growth of the plant for the future. And one doesn’t just throw away the leftovers. It can be recycled to become compost that returns its nutrients back to the environment.
Rituals of Recovery posits that even these pruned portions serve a wider purpose of precision in nature. The way that Orencio paints them—stacked up on top of each other, wrinkled but vibrant—presents itself not as detritus but as an explosion of nature’s variety, beautiful even in its cutoff state.
The oil on canvas works also add a sense of dimension to the flowers. The technique shown in Orencio’s brushstrokes gives the flowers a sense of regal quality even as they appear scattered along the canvas. It pulses with life even in death.
A Documentation of Responsibility
Daoana in their write-up said that Orencio’s work highlights the importance of routine as a way of cleansing and keeping our internal spaces and thoughts to be at peace with each other. They compare the pruning of the flowers to a morning walk or a cup of coffee: practices that keep our spiritual minds grounded.
In that sense, it’s curious to see Rituals of Recovery as a way of documenting the byproduct of our practices to find ourselves again, day in and day out. It feels like seeing parts of ourselves that we’ve outgrown, parts of ourselves that we don’t need anymore despite their usefulness in the past.
It highlights the beauty of those outmoded parts. But it also shows the necessity of pruning them: these flowers are overgrown, aging, and preventing it from achieving its full potential. It’s the gardener’s responsibility to ensure that these parts don’t overwhelm and keep the plant from adapting.
Rituals of Recovery gives us a visual metaphor of the need to create daily practices that calm our interior selves to continue our proper growth as human beings. It’s also a beautiful documentation of nature as a whole, that lovely things can exist even in the byproducts of nature as a whole. Nothing is wasted, and nobody is a waste.
Related reading: How “Malasakit” is Future-Proofing Philippine Design Culture
The fourth Manila Interior DesignInterior DesignThe discipline of planning and shaping interior spaces for function, comfort, safety, and beauty. It covers layout, lighting, materials, finishes, furniture, and color, and in the Philippines is a licensedGo to Interior Design Glossary Summit (MIDS) brought together more than 300 delegates for four days of conversations, exhibitions, and design […]
Held at the SMX Convention Center Aura in Taguig City, the first ASEAN Creative Industries Expo by Malikhaing Pinoy (ASEAN MPEx) features nine creative domains, including design, visual arts, digital interactive media, and performing arts. Organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the event includes exhibitions, cultural performances, industry talks, and pitching sessions […]
The SSS Building as an Expression of Civic Modernism My favorite modernist landmark in Quezon City is the SSS building on East Avenue. Designed by National Artist for ArchitectureArchitectureThe art and science of designing and constructing buildings, structures, and spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. It encompasses the planning, design, materials, and techniques […]
Archie G. Carrasco, Chairman and CEO of AGC Power Holdings Corp. (AGC PHC), has been named to The BoF 500 Class of 2026 under the Media category, joining The Business of Fashion’s global community of individuals shaping the fashion industry. Carrasco is among 100 new members from 33 countries and 48 nationalities selected for the […]
Culture in design does not always announce itself through a recognizable motif, material, or symbol. It can also be embedded in the relationships designers build, the knowledge they listen to, the materials they choose, and the decisions they make in response to communities and their environments. This distinction emerged throughout the 2026 International Design Conference […]
Read the issues.
Collect the volumes.
Recommended Video
Tap to Unmute
Unmute
0:00
0:00