sound and video projection, hollow blocks, fabrics.
“Soft as Concrete” is an installation that explores the contrast of pre-conceived “soft” materials, like fabric, with the notion of women artists in a predominantly masculine art environment. This installation aims to challenge societal stereotypes and explores the intersections of macho culture, vulnerability, and artistic expression. The material is comprised of the artist’s plant-dyed fabrics and later on intervened with bleach, which serves as a representation of the material’s receptivity to its environment. The bleached fabric becomes a metaphor for the artist’s willingness to absorb the challenges and influences of her surroundings while retaining her own perspective. Through this transformative process, the fabric acquires a new identity that symbolizes the malleability and adaptability of the artist’s own journey.
Moreover, it explores the experience of a woman artist as an outsider in Manila. By contributing a personal lens through video and audio projection comprised of the artist’s documentation and field recordings while travelling around different parts of the Metro, particularly by walking around the streets of Quiapo, Binondo and Escolta. The installation invites viewers to contemplate the complexities of identity and the ways in which artists navigate unfamiliar environments while capturing the nuances of the human experience and translates immediate sensibilities into artistic forms.
“Soft as Concrete” seeks to create an engaging space for dialogue and contemplation by embracing softness as a source of strength and resilience.