Arts & Culture

Women’s Month as Seen Through the Artist’s Lens

We look back at these four art exhibits and how they tackled the subject of womanhood

April 1, 2024

Elle Yap

Matrix II

What does equality mean to the Filipina artist today? With less barriers for women artists to study and practice their craft, how do we define their current struggles?

This exhibit portrays a complicated tapestry of the history of women artists in the Philippines. We see their art evolve and change with the times, as more artists in the present become proactive in depicting socio political topics close to their heart.

It also highlights the ways society divides people beyond their gender: from their class status and heritage, to the general hindrances of how one mounts artworks. The exhibit shows that all issues are women’s issues, and that there is no limit to the topics one can relate to their lives.

Bliss: Khajuraho Sketches

This exhibition of sculptor Agnes Arellano’s work at Everything’s Fine Bookshop chooses to question our conservative perspective on sex as a society. Many of the artworks depict men and women in the throes of passion, taken from photographs of a Buddhist temple in India.

Arellano’s work as a whole challenges patriarchal beliefs about the female body and sexuality. It invites us to analyze our own perspectives on sex, and beyond that, the ways that it can create transcendent experiences from us all.

“Bliss is the state that you’re in when you’re in the act of making love. But even if you’re not making love and you’re meditating, it’s the same. You want to achieve that same state of altered consciousness,” Arellano said during an open discussion about the exhibit.

You can read more about the discussion and the works as a whole here.

Enigma

How we connect to our religious beliefs can define the way we live. With this exhibit, a group of local female artists sought to redefine the Bible away from the patriarchy, and highlight the fearlessness that exists with the women featured there.

From works like Olive Jaro Lopez’s Cattleya I to III which uses textiles to represent the blossoming and steadfast faith of a barren woman, to Mercedes Cabral’s triptych depicting the death of John the Baptist in the hands of Salome, it portrays the complicated, multifaceted acts of courage and bravery that women of the Bible did to survive.

It’s certainly important to highlight these acts of bravery in a religious world where women are still not allowed to be ordained in the Catholic church, and where women are still shunned away from positions of power in favor of a patriarchal padre de pamilia system.

Read our coverage of the exhibit here.

Alburoto

Women’s work has tended to be seen as “lesser than” by a patriarchal society. Obviously, this is not true, and the economic value of women—not just formal workers but also housewives and stay-at-home moms—is indispensable.

And yet even then, there’s still a gender pay gap between men and women. More importantly, as costs skyrocket, women have been forced to stay at home to care for their families.

With that in mind, Alburoto showcases the importance of women in the labor fight. Women in different sectors like agriculture and factory work are in the frontlines for their rights for proper wages, for less discrimination, and for different benefits like maternity leave.

It’s not an effortless fight, but Alburoto shows the solidarity necessary to keep the fight for workers’ rights alive. It also recontextualizes women’s work across history, creating a narrative of a long fight for equality that still isn’t there.

Read more on the exhibit with our write-up.

Women’s Issues Deserve Their Spotlight

International Women’s Month is necessary as a way of celebrating and highlighting the importance of women around the world. But one must remember that these issues and accomplishments don’t start and end in March. They exist, evergreen, anytime everywhere.

Whether it’s March or not, women deserve their spotlight just as much as men do. More importantly, they deserve to have these issues addressed, for a safer and better future for the next generation.

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