Artworks about Women, Artworks by Women

By Martin Genodepa

Art history, across cultures and geographies, has been shaped largely within patriarchal structures. Its institutions, critical frameworks, and canonical narratives have predominantly been authored and sustained by men. As a result, artistic value and legitimacy have often been sieved through a singular lens.

Within this context, women’s creative production was constrained by domestic expectations. Their creativity and artistry expressed through weaving, sewing, embroidery, and other forms associated with the home were relegated to the category of craft. But women have continually asserted their presence, not only within these mediums but also in painting, sculpture, and other forms traditionally dominated by men.

Panulok kag Tingug: Women in Art, Women’s Art is an exhibition brings together works by male and female artists intended to look closely at a charged and enduring question: How have men seen women as subjects of art? And how have women seen, and more importantly have spoken, of themselves?

Totalling 43 atworks artists by 34 male and female artists, Panulok kag Tingug does not seek to position men and women in opposition. Rather, it acknowledges art as inherently polysemic – open to multiple, and sometimes conflicting, interpretations. The representation of women by male artists whether as muse, symbol, laborer, or idealized form is complex. Depiction can slip into reduction, confining women within inherited stereotypes and forcing them into essentialized roles, leading to reduced opportunities eventually. Because meaning exceeds purpose, when situated within public discourse, representations such as the nude, the portrait, and the genre scene open themselves to readings that include objectification or the reiteration and perpetuation of inherited views.

When women claim authorship over their own image and story, the balance of representation is altered and the position of the subject redefined. Women’s artistic voices do more than offer alternative perspectives; they re-examine and revise long standing assumptions. By mastering established visual conventions and by reclaiming craft traditions, women artists reshape the conceptual boundaries of art itself. If art is a form of expression, then work grounded in lived experience carries particular weight. In this sense, art by women affirms its prerogative to mold both form and content.

Beyond its gathering of artists and artworks, the exhibition offers a wide range of images, narratives, and ideas about women. Examining these works reveals recurring themes that shape the exhibition’s overall character.

The female body is viewed differently by Solomon Saprid, Ed Defensor, Art Geroche, Cesar Lagaspi, and Napoleon Abueva than by Pardo de Leon, Nelfa Querubin, and Brenda Fajardo. The former treat the female figure primarily as a study of form and aesthetics, while the latter present it as a vessel that bears physical and psychological struggles.

The works of Alan Cabalfin and Fil Delacruz both feature indigenous women as their subjects. In Wives of Datu Bog, Delacruz suggests the struggles faced by women in the Kulaman Valley of Sultan Kudarat as they navigate cultural traditions and expectations. Meanwhile, Cabalfin’s terracotta sculpture Web highlights how political conflict has affected the ancestral lands of the Panay Bukidnon.

Pg Zoluaga’s Red Book and Edsel Moscoso’s Sitting Woman can also be read as subtle critiques of male attitudes toward women. This interpretation is reinforced by a nearby untitled painting by Oscar Nava, which depicts a man fantasizing about a woman removing her underwear. The painting serves as a candid portrayal of the male gaze and invites viewers to consider how women are often objectified.

The portrayals of women by Mauro Malang Santos, Nelson Ferraris, Donato Sermeno, and David Mendoza focus on ambulant a flower vendor, a fish vendor, farmworker, and a market vendor. These realistic depictions can be seen as tributes to women engaged in traditional forms of labor. In contrast, Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi presents women in a more symbolic and elevated manner, placing them on altars as figures of either virtue or vice.

In Predella, the figure at the top seemed to represent Imelda Marcos, suggested by the clothing despite the face being obscured. In Altar Mayor, Gelvezon-Tequi includes Santa Ofelia in the retablo, referencing her saintly namesake; notably, the figure bears a resemblance to the artist herself. This idealized and reverential portrayal of women contrasts with Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s print Harana, where the woman is presented within a traditional courtship scene as an object of romantic pursuit rather than one of veneration.

The concern for the environment and nature emerge as a theme that many women artists engage with. Gleanne Gentizon’s Pag-ulikid II highlights the pollution of waterways, emphasizing the degradation of water as a vital source of life. In Panalambiton, Marites Eusoya personifies the environment as a grieving woman, suggesting both ecological loss and emotional suffering. Gigi Alfonso’s untitled acrylic painting, however, envisions a surreal yet harmonious world, while Virginia Flor-Agbayani’s abstract sunset from the 1960s explores the expressive possibilities of color and atmosphere.

Themes of motherhood and family relationships appear in Jose Joya’s Mother and Child drawing and Manuel Rodriguez’s Mother and Child print, both of which focus on the bond between mother and son. Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi expands this idea of kinship in her print Another Generation, which depicts her grandmother, godmother, son, and herself within their ancestral home, emphasizing generational continuity and familial connectedness.

Representations of feminine identity also vary across the exhibition. Portaits like Leo Gali’s Feminine Colors and Joseph Decierdo’s May Panata draw attention to the eyes of its female subject, while Om Madhu’s sewn textile portrait, Si Inday nga Daw Bulak, presents a woman surrounded by multiple eyes across the picture plane. Possibly influenced by the artist’s New Age beliefs, the work suggests women’s heightened awareness, intuition, and all-seeing presence.

The struggle for women’s emancipation remains an ongoing and evolving concern. Contemporary expressions of this theme can be found in Mia Reyes’ acrylic photo transfer Muse X, Margaux Blas’s mixed-media collage Dreams of Liberation and Charmaine Española’s Do You Remember the Moment You Became Who You Are? and Fly Free, Fly Far, all of which reflect on freedom, identity, and the continuing pursuit of self-determination.

Alongside calls for social and political emancipation, works in the exhibition explore the emotional and psychological dimensions of women’s experiences, too. Jeffeya Hillary Daba’s paper sculpture Emotional Baggage gives form to the weight of accumulated feelings and personal struggles. Similarly, Althea Villanueva’s Hoping to See What I Missed offers an intimate reflection on inner conflict and self-discovery. The small acrylic painting depicts a ghostlike female figure situated within an urban landscape, suggesting feelings of unresolved introspection.

Perhaps one of the subtlest expressions of the intriguing and complex nature of womanhood is found in Arianne Malanguis’s sculpture installation Kikik. The work consists of painted plaster-of-Paris cicadas arranged in a procession-like formation and illuminated from below, creating a striking visual effect. The cicada, known for its dramatic life cycle and transformation, is often associated with renewal, and resilience. In this context, the insect serves as a powerful metaphor for womanhood itself, always evolving, adapting, and emerging anew through different stages of life.

At its core, Panulok kag Tingug explores the complexity of how art is made and how it is received. By affirming that meaning is shaped through encounter, the exhibition opens an avenue for conversation instead of seeking to bridge every divide.

Panulok kag Tingug: Women in Art, Women’s Art is on-going until June 30 at Hanas Changing Exhibition Gallery of the UPV Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage.