MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The “waves” in the seas are often a source of merriment and joy. Feeling the splash of the waters gives us a feeling of relief and comfort. Diving in the deep waters and discovering the beauty of marine life is an awesome experience.
All these and more are the emotions captured in “Ebb and Flow: Return to Nature,” an exhibition of the best and most distinctive paintings, prints, photography, and sculptures at the Yuchengco Museum in Makati. European and Filipino artists have come together to show the beauty of water, its importance, and what happens when water and the life that it sustains are nurtured or are ruined.
Curated by César Caballero, the exhibition also counts with works by Kizel Cotiw-an (Philippines), Ramon and Romina Diaz (Philippines and Italy), Louis Dumont (Belgium), Henri Etéve (France), Jeanette Kamphuis (Sweden), Radha Makitalo (Finland), Fara Manuel Nolasco (Philippines), Ann Pamintuan (Philippines), René Reiter (Germany), and Viviana Riccelli (Italy).
The “Ebb and Flow: Return to Nature” exhibition is part of the Viva Europa 2022 cultural festival, which aims to highlight shared European cultural heritage with Filipinos. This is also in celebration of the founding of the European Union. The exhibition fittingly coincides with the EU Green Week (May 30 to June 05) and the lead-up to the UN Ocean’s Conference (Lisbon, June 27 to July 01).
European Union Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Luc Véron, Madam Yvonne Yuchengco, Chairwoman, Yuchengco Museum, and Mr César Caballero, Curator, inaugurated the exhibition. The exhibition is ongoing at the Yuchengco Museum, Makati City, from May 20 to 31.
Ambassador Véron said that the title of the exhibition “Ebb and Flow” is an invitation to meditation. “An invitation to meditate on life. No life without water. Yet, as we, sailors, know very well, water is indomitable. Our planet is blue, yet man cannot conquer the ocean. We are just its humble servants,” he said.
César Caballero, Curator described the exhibition as a “gathering once again of multi-disciplinary artists from the Philippines and several European countries maintaining connections on vital and important questions for life and the transcendental co-existence of the identity of communities and their individuals.”
The exhibition is an initiative of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines and the Yuchengco Museum, Embassies of Belgium, Germany, Spain (together with Instituto Cervantes Manila), France (together with Alliance Francaise de Manille), Italy (together with the Philippine Italian Association and Galleria Duemila), Finland, Sweden, and artists from the University of the Philippines, Baguio City.
