MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Today, there is an abundance of messages harping on women’s empowerment to the point where their identities are acknowledged by their presence over genuine representation.
Instead of embracing the broad spectrum of what a woman can be beyond their appearances, the way we imagine women or craft stories around them tend to fall on tried and tested representations.
This is a dilemma that women in advertising are currently facing. We now know better that women are more complex than the stereotypes we imagine them to follow. As a critique of this, the exhibition “Play Within The Box: Women Reframed” takes people against the age-old adage of “thinking outside the box” in favor of looking at present realities and reframing them into possibilities.
The featured artists are no strangers to creating stories about women. Jo Aguilar, Villarica Manuel, and Tricia Salonga are advertising creatives that have worked on award-winning ad campaigns. They turn to their personal art practices to shed light on diversified roles and characteristics of women which aren’t as represented as we’d hope they’d be in this day and age.
“Ten years na ako as art director at designer. Alam ko kung genuine ba ang pakay ng mga tao at one glance. It’s an acquired skill. So nung nalaman kong sa labas ng Pilipinas, sa loob ng industriyang ito, na hindi pala patas ang pagtingin sa kabababaihan, alam kong may magagawa ako,” said Villarica. (“I have ten years of experience as an art director and a designer. I can recognize whether people’s intentions are genuine or not; it is an acquired skill. So when I found out that women aren’t viewed equally in the scope of the creative industry in the Philippines, I know that I can do something about it.”)
“Play Within the Box: Women Reframed” takes audiences on a multi-sensory experience that touches on how women used to be portrayed, what roles and realities women have now, and what fair representations of women could look like going forward.
The show exposes shared pains that women have dealt with. This includes the impossible ideals that are perpetuated in advertisements as early as the 1950s in contrast to what genuine women’s empowerment could look like.
The show comes right in time for women’s month with its opening reception scheduled on March 08 at 4:00 PM at the NCCA Gallery (Gallery B) in Gen Luna St. Intramuros, Manila. It will run until March 31. This exhibition is made possible through the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Dentsu Creative Philippines.
