The three-woman exhibition Ordo Ab Chao, a Latin for ‘order out of chaos’ or ‘order from disorder’, dissects the search for order in the creative processes of Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Yasmin Sison and Pam Yan-Santos while in the state of constant mental and physical disarray. Although initially viewed as clutter, the need  to accumulate and categorize objects becomes material for works; it becomes fertile ground for production, as well as points for refuge, meditation and breath. 

Individualistic selections of things from their everyday coalesce into abstracted objects, collages, installations and figurations, creating in the process subconscious intimate self-portraits of their contexts and idiosyncrasies. As personal lives and spaces of work merge, there is an undeniable revelation of the self with each piece of raw material and its transformation shown.

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo’s sculptural objects are experimentations and explorations out of collected scrap wood and materials, highlighting a sense of play with every piece. Each work on the shelf is delicately matched and mismatched to fit a certain form that is distinctive to Quisumbing-Ramilo. Yasmin Sison’s collages, shown in painting, video and scrapbook, merge together vibrant patterns and color schemes, cut-outs and paint, as well as miniature house fittings. This method of layering becomes a veiling and unveiling of her personal narrative. Pam Yan-Santos remakes disjointed filing cabinets with a quotation ‘balance is never straight’ set on its side --- sharply pointing to the fragmentations of the mind while in the process of organization. Each drawer is personalized with prints and phrases, while a shredder standing obliquely to its front instructs viewers to discard their thoughts.

The wall upon entering presents a glimpse of the artists’ works --- Quisumbing Ramilo with an object, Sison with a painting, and Yan-Santos with an envelope-filled drawer labelled priority. Inside, the space is ironically in order, assembled and in place with each artist set separately on their own areas as though emphasizing further the individualistic manner not only by means of their aesthetics but the manner in which the art works are made. This sets contrast to the fount of the works themselves, which is disorder and amasses of things, and the similarity of effect and affect the act of creating has for these women.

Also present in all these are hints of the domestic, personalized to their own realities. As each feeds the other, a cycle ensues where the boon and bane, the privilege and drawback of living in constant chaos turn into a source of inspiration for the pieces made. Transparent in the works as well are the unique processes involved in confronting the clutter. Although not as a directive but in a more exemplary fashion, one becomes privy to how each of the artists deal and cope yielding in the process a shared cathartic experience in production and the revelation of one’s own understanding of things function.

Art here is seen as redemption, the jump-off point and end of the creative process. It has become site of strength in lifting one’s head out of the water, in being able to find semblances of clarity in the midst of the jumble.

Words by Iris Ferrer

With degrees in both Humanities and Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines, it is no wonder Yasmin Sison (b. 1972) has a conceptual approach to her art. She is also a founding member of the art collective Surrounded
by Water. Before becoming a full-time artist, she took several teaching jobs, the last and longest of which was as a pre-school teacher. Her interest in children also reflects in the way elements of childhood recur in her art. Her works have been exhibited across the Southeast Asian region. In 2006, she became a recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Thirteen Artists Award and in the following year she was shortlisted in the Ateneo Art Awards.

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo (b. 1961) Christina Quisumbing Ramilo examines and reimagines objects and surfaces through a sensitive approach to material and site specificity. Her artistic practice shows a profound interest in the life and history of objects and centers on interventions that reconfigure, transform, or give new life to existing forms. She renders known forms unfamiliar, making works that ultimately express and respond to personal poetries.

Her recent exhibitions include ‘Muscle Memory’ (2017), ‘UNTITLED’ (2016), and ‘Wit of the Staircase’ (2015) at Artinformal, ‘Construct’ (2013) at Silverlens, and ‘Residue’ (2013) at Galleria Duemila. She was part of the Filipino delegation to the 26th Asian International Art Exhibition at the Hangaram Museum (Seoul, 2011). She has recently done special projects as artist-in-residence at Langgeng Art Foundation (Yogyakarta, 2016), TAKSU (Kuala Lumpur, 2017) and the Taiwan East Coast Land Art Festival (Taitung, 2017).

Pam Yan Santos’ (b. 1974) works have always been about layers. A visual diary of sorts, her practice explores the depth and role of memory in encoding events and the emotions attached to them. The strata of meaning harvested from personal experiences are strewn all over the picture plane, o en in the form of painting, drawing, collage, scribbles and prints. Sometimes, installation and or actual objects are integrated to interact and enhance this visual experience.

She was awarded the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists in 2009 and was shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards the same year. In 1993, she won first place in the print category of the Art Association of the Philippines Annual Art Competition. She has a bachelor’s degree in Painting from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, where she also taught studio courses for five years. Her works have been exhibited in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, France and New York. Yan Santos is based in Pasig City, Philippines.