BPI PRESENTS

ARTFAIRPH/PROJECTS

Faye Abantao is a visual artist who was born and raised in Bacolod, Negros Occidental. Largely self-taught, Faye collects and deconstructs archival prints and expands their imagery with a cluster of disciplines which include origami, digital collage, image transfer and painting. In an overlapping sequence, the string of procedures begins with a camera and culminates with paint and brushes, giving her imagery their distinct visual form.

Charged with the belief that “it is vital to tell stories in a non-traditional way,” Faye Abantao uses different media to approximate the complexities of life that accumulate as memories over time. Her installation guides the audience through a series of closed doors, inviting the viewer to open each one, revealing paintings, objects, photographs, and other ephemera. The keepsakes are part of the artist’s personal archive, but their familiarity, domesticity, and humanity create a sense of connection with the viewer, who is drawn into a private, intimate space which they can inhabit with their own memories.

The concept behind the installation centers around the nature of memory—how it changes, evolves, and disappears—and the power of objects. They are, as Abantao’s work emphasizes, aids to remembrance, tangible and persistent reminders of a life once lived, like a smile captured in a photograph or a figurine collecting dust on a shelf. The displays remind us that history—whether personal or collective—is physical and linked to past events. Rather than evoking sadness or longing for something that can never be regained, Abantao’s installation elicits warmth, spirit, and a sense of companionship, guiding the viewer to a point where the past becomes a home once more.