MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The world may be locked down, but that doesn’t mean we can’t spend time appreciating art. One of the most awaited shows this season was fabric artist Annatha Lilo Gutierrez’s “Stitches” Exhibit in The National Commission for Culture and the Arts, which was unfortunately cut short as community quarantine measures were taken. As we believe that it would be a waste to not have the opportunity to see the impeccable display of craft and culture in this exhibit, we at adobo magazine decided to house a virtual showcase celebrating her works.
Written by Rodolfo R. Perez Jr., here’s a look into stories told through fabric by Annatha Lilo in “Stitches”:
German-Filipina fabric artist Annatha Lilo Gutierrez stitches together cosmic stories of the divine feminine.
Art critic Cid Reyes writes: “Life as a cycle in the perpetual turning of the seasons, life as an existential process of creation, preservation and destruction, life as a circus from which, unlike the spectacles of magic and fantasy in the Big Tent in a carnival, there is no escaping: all these are conveyed by the silk paintings of Annatha Lilo Gutierrez, which, with their fairy tale-like unfolding, hinting at Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu mythology and faith, allows us to catch a glimpse of life’s imponderables.”
Serena (2005) and Mutya ng Pasig (2005) are early works using silk dyes and mixed media.
“My installation (composed of) fishnet for past source of livelihood, taffeta and ribbons for aesthetics, plastic as symbol of destruction of the environment- is a collage of (the) Pasig (river) past and present.”, says Annatha of her “Pasig River Installation” (2005).
Sparked by her discovery in the streets around the Quiapo Church that dahong Maria is wormwood, known in Europe since medieval times for its healing properties by healers such as the visionary St. Hildegarde von Bingen, Annatha Lilo finds inspiration in the intersections between Filipino healing folklore, ayurvedic medicine and Western homeopathic practices.
Annatha Lilo Gutierrez is known for her mastery and application of silk dyes on Filipino fabrics such as jusi, piña and other fabrics like habotai silk, or liniwan shifu.
“Triptych- The Three Fates (2017)” is done on jusi, “Water Lotus” (2017) on piña, “Five Elements: Wood (Hildegard) (2017)” is on habotai silk while both “Water Element (Kuan Yin) (2017)” and “Fire Element (2017)” uses liniwan shifu, combining paper and fiber, handmade by Kapangan, Benguet-based master papermaker Asao Shimura.
Her wearable art reinvents the tapis, marrying her fabric paintings on jusi or pina fabric with indigenous fabrics sourced from the north (i.e. Mountain Province or Abra). Matched with estampitas worn as an anting-anting to ward off negative energy, her wearable art is sustainable if not magical.
Annatha Lilo says about the process: “It is a labor intensive and a manual process involving crochet, quilting and beading. I use crochet for the borders and for the sash in my tapis skirts. I use crochet because this is sturdier than say machine-made lace and for aesthetic reasons. Another labor of love is the beading where beads and semi-precious stones are hand-sewn on my artworks. Finally, quilting is involved to set the artwork evenly and firmly on the fabric.”
Her new works in acrylic expand the wider meaning of stitching from mending (something) to healing (something or someone)? -albeit not only with stitches but with brush strokes.
A protégé of Rod Paras Perez, Annatha Lilo studied Interior Design at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). A successful entrepreneur-exporter of baby linen, she re-entered the art world by joining various group and one-woman shows, and curating stints in art galleries.
