Joining some of the country’s most influential and leading visual artists, ACC grantee Lyra Garcellano is one of the featured artists in this year’s Art Fair Philippines, the premier platform for exhibiting and selling the best in modern and contemporary Philippine visual art.

A focus on Lyra’s works from painting and installations to video and photography shall be presented in a specially-curated section of the most anticipated art event.  Art Fair Philippines notes “recurring themes in Garcellano's exhibits revolve around issues of national identity and the art world's contested systems of valuation. In her installations, text becomes a powerful medium and subject with which the artist explores and interrogates the art world, perhaps for the reason that art is also a language game.” Lyra received the ACC Fellowship in 2009 that supported her research on contemporary art and art practices and a residency program at Location One and Point B Work Lodge in Brooklyn, New York. Garcellano says of her ACC Fellowship: “A fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council gifted me the luxury of time and mobility. The chance to be in New York — to see, feel, and hear different things and to meet and interact with a variety of people — is something almost implausible but certainly most welcome at this stage of my life. Without having to worry much about the chaos and monotony of “real” life, this experience allowed me alternative ways of looking at things. It is this re-energized outlook I so needed and wanted in order to find new meaning in my art and even in my personal life. This grant gave me a wonderfully amazing six-month window of fresh perspective. And for that I am grateful to ACC.”

Art Fair Philippines took place March 1-4, 2018 at The Link, Ayala Center in Makati City. For details: www.artfairphilippines.com.