Gallery Mondejar | Urduja Manaoag

From images of the Virgin Mary revealing through delicately sculpted enigmatic petal forms to the smearing and smudging of the artist’s stained lips that she uses to paint with, Urduja Manaoag’s work articulate a sensibility to the Filipina Feminine and explore certain aspects of Philippine Culture.

The body of work she has especially created for the Mondejar Gallery explores transformations, transitions, borders and particular behaviors distinguished to be Filipino. The name of her ongoing project “en-during after” is a reference to these themes as well as expressing aspects of her recent transition into motherhood. Manaoag enjoys extensively writing about her work and creating personalized discourses, each piece in the exhibition is part of a research or a study in which she is continually working on. She will be using sound, video and ceramic as well as experimenting with unexpected medias to create installations and paintings.

Untitled Wall installation of 200 ceramic sculptures
Manaoag has always been curious about the phenomenon of the Virgin Mary as a religious icon in Filipino Culture as well as in other countries like Mexico, Spain, Italy, and in Poland. This installation has been inspired by her research on the icon’s multiple identities and how the holy mother is a symbol of not only miraculous doings and compassion, but also because of how her image has played a crucial role in Filipina women’s identity. Each ceramic sculpture, approximately 11-12 cm by length are organic in shape and somewhat resemble fowers, seashells or the female genitalia.

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