by Amihan Jumalon
solo exhibit by AMIHAN JUMALON
530 pm /saturday, july 24 / FOYER GALLERY
Silliman University, Dumaguete
Dumaguete, above all other places, is where I came of age: It is the city where I ran free and wild and alone. It is the city where I went to raise my child.
Dumaguete, above all other places, is the vortex where two of my greatest realities clash: It is the first city where I ran wild and alone and free. It is the city where I went to raise my child.
Queen Building is an ode, in part, to this city. The clash of realities here and in other places is personified, the inevitable battles fought within me as archetypes or daimons. The paintings, my women, reside in the realm of symbolic meaning: subjects in fixed poses, interacting with portentous images. All in all, my work is a personal metaphor of women’s roles and of art.
Dumaguete, above all other places, is the board where my queens journey to gather power and to realize that queens must have authority to protect not only her children and family, but the also art and endeavor – the other things which she loves.
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about the artist
As the eldest daughter of the Jumalon family of painters in Zamboanga City, Amihan was introduced to visual art at a young age. Along with her family, she has exhibited her early works in Zamboanga, Dipolog, Davao, Manila, and Baguio.
Her choice of technique combines surreal composition with illustrative detail. The completed works are an exploration of the female form and the realities it engenders from her experiences as a woman, a Mindanaoan, and an artist.
Since her 2002 solo at the CCP, Amihan has explored other roles as well, specifically her experience of migration and motherhood. Currently but not permanently based in the Visayas, these concerns have manifested in acrylic paintings and drawings which have been featured in group shows in Dumaguete, Cagayan, and Manila. In 2009, her work was featured in the Prospekts ‘09 group exhibit in Singapore. In May this year, she launched her 4th solo show entitiled Queen Building at the Orange Gallery in Bacolod City.