ABOUT THE WORK

Contemporary artist Joven Mansit’s artistic preoccupations include evoking new meanings as he both affirms and negates familiar historical images through reimaging and adding humorous, ironic, or irreverent elements in his works. Philippine history books and archives serve as his resource materials for recreating old photographs in which he also injects his own visual manipulations, usually suggestive of nationalistic observations. He reconnects Filipinos to Philippine history in this attention-grabbing piece featuring a 19th century Filipina with a 16th-century expedition ship atop her head, juxtaposed in sepia tones. Here, he particularly captures the spirit of the Spanish era colonialism in this recreation of an old photograph turned into a large-scale painting by rendering not just the subject and the manipulated image of the ship, but also down to its folds and discoloration qualities. The woman’s off shoulder upper clothing is a fascinating notable feature and a contemporary take on the Filipiniana clothes of the said period.