Faye Abantao, a visual artist from Bacolod, Philippines, joined us for a two-month residency at Rimbun Dahan from May to June 2024.
About the Residency
During her time with us, Faye explored various printmaking techniques and advanced her project, Withering Memories. This ongoing series, which she began in 2020, evolves into its third installation titled What Becomes of Memories if There’s No One Around to Remember Them? This collage-based, wall-bound mural talks about the ephemeral nature of memory and the existential query surrounding its legacy in the absence of witness.
A combination of various medium—photographs, tearing and the use of paper as a material—each representing a different aspect of memory. The photographs depict fleeting moments of joy and mundane routine, now suspended in time. Tearing conveys intimate thoughts and unspoken words, slowly blurring into oblivion. These layers peel off eventually, leading us to reveal different memories, the vulnerabilities and our intricacies. Paper, with its worn texture, symbolizes the decay and erosion of physical remnants over time.
It raises a question: Do memories have any meaning beyond the minds that contain them? And if a recollection is an individual’s own story or narrative, a subjective perception of reality, what becomes of it when the person who told the story is no longer there to tell it? Memory in the real sense refers to human collective memory and experiences—our histories, cultures, and societies. Without preservation and transmission these too would be lost into nothingness.
It is a challenge to consider how we choose to preserve our memories and the stories we leave behind. In an age where digital archives are vast yet volatile, the permanence of memory becomes even more uncertain. The interplay of traditional and modern underscores this tension, prompting reflections on how future generations will access and interpret the past.
About The Artist
Faye Abantao (b. 1994) is a visual artist from Bacolod City, Philippines. She captures an essence of culmination in her multifaceted art practice. She makes homogenous the panache of creative impulses such as origami, print, digital art, photography, collage and painting.
The focus of her artistry is weaving in stories from the used books and archive of photographs that she uses into the diorama presented through her work. It visually represents herself with profiles and portraits of the human condition. It imitates life through the impact of culture and experiences to individuals. Her art establishes a link between the collection and deconstruction of altered digital images that presents a realm of memory and experience. These images have been noted for their distinct aesthetics and use of monochrome, which are common threads throughout her work. Whether depicting a personal experience, a portrait, or solitude in a peculiar context, they stand apart.
IG: @fayeperproject