Dispatches from the edge: September’s must-see shows
From Manila to Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur to Queens, artists wrestle with personal and collective memory—translating and transforming the ontological, cultural, historical, and psychological traces into forms that endure. Out of this struggle come stories and artifacts that tether the self to the earth, to inner rooms, to community—and, in turn, reshape who we are, who we might yet become, and how we see and interact with the world we live in.
At Silverlens, the three-woman show “A Knowing” anchors us to the earth. In California, Mr. S guides us into the high quiet of the mountains, where silence itself becomes a charged space. In Queens, Maureen Catbagan and Jevijoe Vitug bring to the foreground overlooked Filipino American histories through performance, painting, and sculpture.
Back in Manila, Costantino Zicarelli investigates how collective memory is shaped by mistranslation in folklore and myth, Roger Mond questions whether our species deserves its survival, and a trio at Blanc explores the poetics of “soft spots” within the self.
Taken together, these shows read like dispatches from the edge—artworks that negotiate what we can and must hold on to, and what inevitably slips away.
“Makibaka” by Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan and Jevijoe Vitug)
Until Oct. 5 at Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Building, Corona, Queens, NY 11368, United States
“‘Makibaka’ confronts historical omission—through the labor, memory, and presence of Filipino immigrant workers then and now, we honor counter-monuments to the overlooked and open space where invisibility once stood.”
– Abang-guard (Maureen Catbagan and Jevijoe Vitug)
“A Knowing” by Geraldine Javier, Emily Cheng, and Citra Sasmita
Aug. 23 to Sept. 27 at Silverlens, 2263 Chino Roces Ave, Makati City
“I’d like to share a quote [from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s] book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants,’ she wrote, ‘The land knows you, even when you are lost.’”
– Geraldine Javier, visual artist
“Among Quiet Peaks” by Mark Jeffrey Santos aka Mr. S
Sept. 27, 2025 to Jan. 4, 2026 at the Museum of Art and History, 665 W Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster, California 93534, United States
“‘Among Quiet Peaks’ reflects on solitude, presence, and the quiet connection we find in the mountains. These works are drawn from lived experiences in high landscapes, where stillness and openness invite both reflection and a shared sense of peace with nature.”
– Mark Jeffrey Santos aka Mr. S, visual artist
“Mare Fecunditatis” by Yasue Maetake
Aug. 23 to Sept. 27 at Silverlens, 2263 Chino Roces Ave, Makati City
“She refers to the organic matter found in ‘Mare Fecunditatis’ and her other sculptural works as prima materia, a proprietary blend of calcium, other minerals, polymers derived from marine organisms, animal bones, fossils, and various gemstones. This material is then finished by Maetake using stone-polishing techniques. In this way, she is not merely an assembler of found objects; she is the creator of the very substance of her work.”
– Yayoi Shionoiri, art lawyer and writer of “Mare Fecunditatis’” exhibition text
“Derivatives” by Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan
Until Sept. 13 at West Gallery, 48 West Avenue, Quezon City
“In ‘Derivatives,’ Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan contemplate the materiality of their own works, involving large-scale installations produced with communities and other collaborators… From these different spaces and engagements with various artists and volunteers, a timely reflection comes to the forefront at this stage in their career—on whether value can be derived from the process or the final object; on whether the work’s significance lies within the ephemera or its permanence.”
– Cocoy Lumbao Jr., writer of “Derivatives’” exhibition text
“Mother mother tongue tongue” by Costantino Zicarelli
Opens Sept. 17 at Artinformal, C1, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City
“Cole, Fay-Cooper, in ‘A Study of Tinguian Folk-Lore,’ wrote: ‘A man who went with a war party is away so long that he does not recognize his daughter when he returns. He embraces her when she meets him at the town gate. In shame, she changes herself into a coconut tree.’ I’m interested in how tales evolve through time, and how they get lost in translation.”
– Costantino Zicarelli, visual artist
“We Made It” by Roger Mond
Opens Sept. 6 at Blanc Gallery, 145 Katipunan Ave, Quezon City
“‘We Made It’ becomes both congratulatory and accusing in tone. Digesting a lot of data from the internet makes me feel uncertain about the future, but I try to be optimistic with the hopes of mankind surviving. Humans are cosmic freaks; we have survived even the harsh environment, from single-cell organisms to TikTok influencers. We can adapt in order to survive, but somehow venturing into the future has its own cost.
In the end, we are to blame for orchestrating this chaotic post-apocalyptic landscape.”
– Roger Mond, visual artist
“A Garden in the Chest” by Is Jumalon
Until Sept. 7 at MO_Space, 3rd floor, MOs Design Bldg, B2 9th Avenue, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig
“I wanted to create spaces that could feel like small refuges, moments of pause and reflection. I’ve also been revisiting painting in a more raw, naive way, instead of trying to polish everything. I think that crudeness carries more immediacy, more honesty.”
– Is Jumalon, visual artist
“Life is for the Living” by Ryan Rubio
Until Sept. 13 at West Gallery, 48 West Avenue, Quezon City
“For Rubio, ‘Life is for the Living’ is more than a title; it is a personal philosophy. ‘Living is not simply the act of existing,’ he explains, ‘but the choice to be present, to feel deeply, and to connect with the world around us. We are here not just to exist, but to live truly.’
The exhibition is also a reminder and gratitude—a way of telling himself, and others, to treasure life.”
– Liz Bautista, writer of “Life is for the Living’s” exhibition text
“Recent Works” by Roxanne Hermoso and Luigi Singson
Until Sept. 16 at Faculty Projects, Santa Rosa House, 54 Santa Rosa Street, Kapitolyo, Pasig
“I used to paint what I could see. Now I paint what I cannot name—the weight of thought, the surge of feeling, the silence between them.”
– Roxanne Hermoso, visual artist
“Soft Spot” by Wipo, Pam Quinto, and Jed Gregorio
Opens Sept. 6 at Blanc Gallery, 145 Katipunan Ave, Quezon City
“Movement ang nauuna. And that movement is rhythm, tempo, and flow na nanggagaling sa inner space ko. Sinasabayan ko ang galaw na parang binabakat ko ang bumubukadkad na bulaklak, ang paghinga ng mga ulap, ang hubog ng araw ng sabay-sabay.
Gumagana ‘yong buong ako ‘pag nagpipinta. Doon, nawawala ‘yong sense of ‘I’ at walang pagitan ang isip at pakiramdam, intuition siya. Pintura na ang nagpapagalaw sa brush.”
– Wipo, visual artist
“Interferences” by Ryle Russell
Until Sept. 13 at The Drawing Room, Ground Floor, Building C, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Barangay Magallanes, Makati City
“My works are slices of a multidimensional structure, where realities collide into each other and consciousness emerges as a web of intersecting forces. I see painting as a tuning device to an energetic logic that visualizes hidden signals and traces patterns that shape perception.”
– Ryle Russell, visual artist
“An aging double” curated by Gary-Ross Pastrana featuring Jan Balquin, Lesley-Anne Cao, Jed Gregorio, Lou Lim, Issay Rodriguez, Miguel Lorenzo Uy
Opens Sept. 13 at A+ Works of Art, d6-G-8 d6 Trade Centre, Jalan Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
“The exhibition takes its cue from Jean Baudrillard’s reflection that ‘an aging double ends up being confused with the real thing,’ itself inspired by Borges’s tale of an empire whose desire to create a faithful map became as vast as the territory it described.
First staged in Manila, the exhibition returns for a second act, like a delayed echo finally finding its way back. Through a new set of drawings, paintings, sound, video, and site-specific installations, this iteration further reflects on our shared impulse to map, trace, copy, mirror, and reenact.”
– Gary-Ross Pastrana, curator
“a room remembering itself” by Ange Labyrinth
Until Sept. 12 at 1810 Mother Ignacia Ave, Diliman, Quezon City
“They say your brain is fully formed at 25, but for me, it feels like pruning—some memories fade, some linger, and my work is about holding onto those fragments before they slip away.
‘a room remembering itself’ isn’t just about physical spaces that I have inhabited, but rooms I carry in memory and in becoming.
When I started making the images, I thought they were just images, but they became rooms—rooms I have lived in, rooms I left, and rooms that slowly forgot me.”
– Ange Labyrinth, visual artist
