At once shaken by poverty and runaway consumption, the Philippines shocks outsiders with its chaos and appeases with its unexpected charms.
From the perspective of a young professional who has lived there all her life, the contradictions of everyday pile up: workers push into its boulevards clogged with vehicles while they rue the failures of public transport. Commercial complexes and skyscrapers dominate the horizon as ambulant vendors hawk their wares in the streets. Construction projects are never finished. The real estate industry has, until recently, reveled in aggressive building, defying economic doomsayers. At any moment a high-rise could shoot up from the edges of informal settlements, and for many aspirational citizens, this signals a comfortable future.
But urban dwellers have always known better: here, hard work and retreat are the twin elements of building a tolerable way of life. City in habitants have been taught, or hardened, to ignore stress, and they swing between following rules and improvisations to see through hopes and dreams.
Through this exhibit, the artist highlights a demographic frequently ignored by studies and discourses on poverty: the youth and professionals of Philippine metropolises who are easy preys to the conflicting conditions of urban life. Torn between economic survival and the quest for wellbeing and growth, this class could be easily seduced by vice, the “gifts” of globalization, and consumption trends. They frequently balance work and life by reaching for the first tools of distraction and relaxation. When working life fails to satisfy, they find solace in the escape routes: bars, restaurants, and little corners of amusement in the underbelly of a metropolis.
This exhibit is a scroll through middle class loneliness and a kind of poverty that doesn’t feel like it—one that is materially provisioned by excesses and indulgences but urged by burnout and a metropolis’ intellectual limits.
a Solo Exhibit by FRANCES MAE RAMOS
“Work from home” 40 in x 30 in
Pasig River fantasy acrylic on canvas 56 in x 44 in
Works in Progress (2019) acrylic on canvas
5 ft. x 3 ft.
Poblacion I (2019) Watercolor on paper
12.5 in x 16 in
Poblacion II (2019) Watercolor on paper
11.9 in x 17.8 in
About the artist
TAKES
Frances Mae Ramos is a writer. She has previously worked in the fields of agriculture, digital marketing, french language instruction, and editorial. She has both BA and MA degrees in Anthropology from the University of the Philippines, Diliman.
Her preferred painting mediums are oil and watercolor.
Palipas traffic Oil on canvas
24 in X 36 in
Tapuy: Escape to Kiangan Oil on canvas
24 in x 30 in
Huling hapunan (sa kanayunan) Oil on canvas (approx. 4 ft x 2 ft)
Mind (less) games approx. 5 ft x 3 ft oil on canvas
Secret Bar Acrylic on canvas (sold to R&L Liquor store)
After party approx. 2.5 ft x 1.5 ft Watercolor on paper
Petsa de peligro (night shift) approx. 2.5 ft x 1.5 ft Watercolor on paper
Vive le weekend approx 5 in x 3 in Oil on canvas
Trending dessert 12.5 in x 16 in watercolor on paper
