Sororal ties figured as the cue for Tuchi Imperial and Eimi Suzuki. In pursuing this conceptual prompt, the two artists—hailing from distinct artistic and personal milieus—took on different routes. Imperial, a photographer from the Philippines, adopted a largely autobiographical slant, in contrast to Japan-based painter and jewelry designer Suzuki’s more semiotic approach. Yet curiously, they arrive at the same juncture—both grappling with sisterly affinities through the underpinnings of loss. Imperial’s assemblages of archival photographs come from the context of their father’s passing. Consoling her sister led her to ponder the depth of their dynamic, with their youth as the springboard for a lifetime of an inseparable bond. Alongside dance, death emerges as a dominant motif for Suzuki who sees ballet as symbolic of the beauty of the human body. Her works allude to Danse Macabre, a Medieval Europe pictorial theme that saw living beings—from all walks of life— locked in grotesque dances with skeletal figures. At first a seemingly uncanny partnership, the linking of dance and death point to corporeality as a performance. Punctuating their works with notions of loss, Imperial and Suzuki underscore the urgency of sisterly ties especially in contexts of anguish. Altogether, they speak to a grander allegory of mortality that alludes not only to its inevitability, but likewise to its ability to temper, and be beautiful in its own right.
Life was altered drastically in March 2020. Our ever expanding world, made possible by affordable travel and unlimited flights, contracted overnight and we were forced to live within the confines of our dwellings to wait out the end of the pandemic and survive.
This collection is about longing, isolation, grief and guilt. At the same time, it is also about owning our sense of agency and carving out little victories in the smaller worlds we were forced to live in.
“Tuchi Imperial uses found archival images juxtaposed to create surreal contexts and impossibilities. Her works derive from both personal narratives, and from the instinctive creation. Trained as a photographer, her compositions are a departure from the photography that documents what is in front of her. Her works for this exhibit bring the viewer to what is within.
The Restless Landscape alludes to the creative power of us as authors of our lives. Though constraints seem abundant, the art of the way we recollect and share our lives enable us to transcend our limitations.”
Notes by Ricky Francisco
“… We hope they're hiding
We hope they're playing a game
But we know this is really happening
Where have all the children gone?” — words by Joseph Kerschbaum
Old photographs of loved ones and ourselves
Pulled from their old world and put in a new universe based on memory and dream.
“What is that?” she asked him, as he lay on his hospital bed the very last time she saw him.
“Strawberry juice.”
Work commissioned by Magel Cadapan. This is her mother, artist Inday Reyes Cadapan, self taught artist whose brief life was consumed by creating paintings and sculptures resonating influences of Picasso and Matisse.
