In a recent exhibit titled Hánag: Emergent Perspectives, a group of Iloilo artists and designers dedicated their works as an ode to a city that nourished their creative energy, on the 89th anniversary of Iloilo City Charter Day.
Hánag in Hiligaynon refers to early dawn, its soft light just before the moment of full illumination. It refers “to the quiet persistent arrival of light–that subtle glow, the shimmering outline… or what can be seen as a deliberate tracing of a path yet to be fully revealed…”.
Selected Iloilo artists from visual arts, photography, fashion, furniture design, film, and new media converge and share their distinct artistic practices with each other.
Inevitably, living in a particular geographic locality make local artists keen observers and keepers of cultural heritage.
Selected works
Two photography works with post-processing and archival pigment print titled Sa Baybay May Kalipay and Diri, May Kalipay, 2026 capture the sheer exuberance of a neighborhood caught up in Iloilo’s Dinagyang frenzy.
Manny Librodo (b.1964, Lambunao, Iloilo): A professional photographer who specializes in travel and people, glamour and fashion photography. He is also a photography mentor who has conducted more than150 workshops worldwide since 2007. Scott Kelby described him as “one of the world’s top five photographers” in 2009.
Both acrylic on canvas, Panubok III, 2022 shows the textile tradition of a Panay Bukidnon cultural master Regina Villanueva’s embroidery work; Saypang ni Nay Lucing, 2022 depicts Panay Bukidnon’s Panubok embroidery tradition on their traditional attire in geometric and repetitive patterns inspired by their environment and relationship with nature.
Margaux Blas (b. 1990, Ajuy, Iloilo): Works in textiles, installation, collage, and mixed media often using recycled and repurposed materials. With a degree in fashion design and merchandising from the College of Benilde, De La Salle, her Mangrove Memory Tree made of plastic materials from trash is a recent exhibit in a shopping mall in Iloilo City.
Voiceless, 2026 is a series of portraits in pen-and-ink on paper portraying ‘the exploited professionals,’ all with their mouths stitched or shut with metal instruments. In addition, Guijo Dueñas classifies four classes of society: the masses or etsapweras; protectors (police, army, or military); intellectuals; and capitalists or negosyantes.
Dueñas has worked as a social worker and an Amanda Marga yoga teacher in several Southeast Asian countries. Spending four years in Vietnam, he learned painting from his yoga guru. He has also worked as a photographer for Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Iloilo’s Panay News and The Daily Guardian.
A wall lamp, Lumina, 2025 is made from old mahogany wood from a demolished old house, with coconut shells as accents echoing its circular design. “Each piece of wood carries the whispers of its past life, its rich weathered grain telling stories of bygone days.”
Edgardo Lopez Suelo, a graduate of University of San Agustin, is an interior designer, landscape architect, and furniture designer based in Iloilo City.
Wala Gana/Bayaan/Katapusan, 2025: A triptych in fiery colors that tells a story of abandonment and self-renewal. It may seem the end of the world but it is the beginning of picking one’s self up and standing tall, again, says Al Provido (b. 1971).
At the age of 48, Provido had a stroke; after four years of struggle, he returned to painting in 2023 through sheer will. He relearned how to paint with his left hand; post-stroke, his first solo exhibit is Circle is the New Square, Museo Iloilo, 2023; Nabilin, UP MACH, May 2025; and Wagwag Ukay is his third solo exhibit in July 2026, UP Fine Arts Gallery.
Emergence in Adaptation, 2026. It depicts a young man’s portrait with a monitor lizard superimposed on it. What can we learn from a monitor lizard? “…my ability to adapt and reflect on my own identity…my journey of adapting, growing, and finding my own path,” notes Peter John de la Vega, an architecture student in Iloilo City. His works express ideas about “growth, change and everyday life.” With gusto, he participates in art contests as a challenge to his artmaking.
Hamili Nga Kalipay, 2026: Inspired by precious memories of riding a carousel in a shopping mall when the artist was a kid, “the little things we experience become the memories we treasure most.”
Kyle Francis Dile (b. 2002): A recent graduate of industrial technology with a major in architectural drafting from Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISATU), his art practice explores realism, labor, identity, and everyday life. He is a member of Buganhi Art Collective and a mural group in Iloilo.
The exhibit featured works by John Francis Babiera, Margaux Blas, Daniel de la Cruz, Peter John de la Vega, Kyle Francis Dile, Guijo Duenas, Joshua Gabayeran, Peach Garde, Kyle Fermindoza, Martin Genodepa, Patrick Jamora, Carlo Juntado, Manny Librodo, Joemel Mirabuena, Renwil Portodo, Al Provido, Sabrec, and Edgardo Lopez Suelo.
Iloilo Charter Day is celebrated yearly on August 25 based on Commonwealth Act No. 158 that merged the municipalities of La Paz, Mandurriao, Molo, Arevalo and later, Jaro with the town of Iloilo. Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon inaugurated it on August 25, 1937.