After her public art installation project in Queens, New York, the Philippine fibre queen weaves her rightful throne as Art Fair Philippines 2022's centrepiece
Aside from being an integral part of the development of our fashion, the cultural tradition of weaving has always been an esoteric practice by our pre-colonial ancestors. With patterns and symbolic figures coming from dreams to certain colours having meanings for respective occasions, textiles and fabrics not only clothed our skins nor decorated our homes but also shaped our consciousness and sensibilities as a nation.
Taking this tradition further into the contemporary art scene, Aze Ong embodies Homer's Penelope in the classic Greek epic Odyssey by embedding her own emotions, spirituality, and state of mind. "Ang sining ang pagtatahi ng aking puso sa isip, katawan, at kaluluwa (Art is the weaving of my heart to my mind, body, and soul)," Ong shares with Tatler.
Her magnanimous piece for this year's Art Fair Philippines truly captures this transition. Entitled Transcendence, it is her biggest work to date with approximately 40 x 12 feet. Aside from it being a visual message of who she is as an artist, the process of creating it also required her to "transcend into a higher state"—leaping beyond her physical and psychological challenges, accumulated hand injuries, sheer patience and determination.
Her artistic journey
Ong never realised she was creating art until she was 33 years old and Lirio Salvador, so-called the "Father of Sound Art" in the Philippines, told her. Salvador was Ong's teacher and later her mentor when they reconnected 14 years later after college.
"I was about to exhibit my crocheted bags at Likha Diwa, a vegetarian restaurant, and there we've met again and told me that I was making art," Ong recalls.
After college, Ong volunteered for the Associate Missionaries of the Assumption (AMA) and was assigned to Kibangay, Bukidnon where the indigenous people Talaandig live. "I immersed in their culture and was so interested in their way of life," Ong says. "This heavily influenced me as a person and realised later how similar their creative processes were to mine. I was not yet active in the art scene at this time but it has largely influenced me."
Read also: Art Fair PH 2022: Artists and Participating Galleries