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July 13th, 2006

Wawi Navarozza's Polysaccharide

"POLYSACCHARIDE: THE DOLLHOUSE DRAMA" FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHS BY WAWI NAVARROZA FLIES TO THE NETHERLANDS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL NOORDERLICHT PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL 2006 "OTHER ASIA" MAIN EXHIBITION AT THE FRIES MUSEUM

"Polysaccharide: The Dollhouse Drama" was first shown in Manila as a solo fine art photography exhibit by Wawi Navarroza at the Blacksoup Project Artspace (Cubao X) from June 11-July 31, 2005. The work is a series of 13 hand-processed black & white silver gelatin prints taking the viewer on a trip into the interior private mind. Polysaccharide deals with the idea of familial "sheltering" head-to-head with "liberation". Fundamentally, it is an archetypal story of a young woman coming of age. The symbolic visual narrative showcases the artist's unique take on photography as the recorded image on film is challenged with deliberate chemical experimentations and hand manipulation.

Barely a year after the solo exhibition, "Polysaccharide: The Dollhouse Drama" is being recognized in the art world here and abroad. There is a recent citation for an art awards by the Ateneo Art Gallery, and on the other side of the globe, the series was handpicked for inclusion at the main exhibition for the international Noorderlicht Photography Festival in the Netherlands. Through these two separate institutions, the photographs will be available for public viewing once again.

ATENEO ART AWARDS 2006

The Ateneo Art Gallery, the country's premier museum of modern Philippine art, recently cited Wawi Navarroza as one of the 12 artists in the short-list of awardees for this year's Ateneo Art Awards for her work "Polysaccharide: The Dollhouse Drama". Other artists in the shortlist are: Poklong Anading, Yason Banal, Lena Cobangbang, Marina Cruz, Mideo Cruz, Anton del Castillo, Bembol dela Cruz, Maya Munoz, Rodel Tapaya, Jay Ticar, Jevijoe Vitug.

The twelve artists were selected by the 2006 Ateneo Art Awards Jury from over seventy nominations. Each artist, a Filipino citizen, 35 years or under on or before 31 May 2006, was nominated for a solo or group exhibition held in any public venue between 2 May 2005 and 1 May 2006.

From the short-list, the three recipients of the Awards will be announced on 8 August 2006 at a formal ceremony at the Rockwell Tent following "2006 Ateneo Art Awards: Outbound," an exhibition of the works of the short-listed artists at Power Plant Mall from 1 - 6 August 2006.

One of the 2006 Ateneo Art Awards winners will be chosen for the Ateneo Art Gallery Sydney Studio Residency Grant, which provides the selected artist with roundtrip airfare, accommodation and a work studio for three weeks, an allowance, as well as an invitation to exhibit at The Cross Art Projects, a leading alternative art space in the city. The final selection from among the three winners shall be made by the Sydney gallery, which will also be announced during the Awards ceremony.

NOORDERLICHT PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

Noorderlicht is one of the longest-running photo galleries and the largest annual photography festival in The Netherlands (and one of the few in the world). Known internationally, it provides a platform for photographers who are in search of new visual forms and use the medium to investigate and visualise society.

For this year's photography festival and main exhibition, Noorderlicht has turned its gaze to a particular region on the rise: South and Southeast Asia. The festival organizers observe that "South and South East Asia are rapidly becoming central actors on the world stage. The economic growth there overshadows that of Europe and the United States, and new Asian capital plays an increasingly important role in Western economies. Its economic success is accompanied by serious friction between modern and traditional social structures, and the great and long-standing contrasts in the political, economic, religious and social realms are becoming sharper. These changes impact radically on everyday life - and are reflected in the turbulent growth of photography."

The main theme for the festival is entitled "Another Asia". It will showcase photographs from South and Southeast Asia as taken through the lens of 64 photographers from 21 countries all over the globe. Noorderlicht comments, "Asia is generally associated with China, South Korea and Japan. For the first time, "Another Asia" is offering a comprehensive picture of the other Asia. In over 500 photos, from portraits to landscapes, from poetic to documentary, photographers from India, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, The Philippines and other countries provide a surprising picture of this region, from the inside. They sketch the success story - and the stories that it hides."

Navarroza joins the main exhibition together with other Asian photographers with a selection of works from her series "Polysaccharide: The Dollhouse Drama." She is the only Filipino in the show.

The exhibit will be housed at the Fries Museum in Leuwarden, Netherlands. It will open on September 9, 2006 and will run until October 29, 2006.

Back home in Manila, not related to the festival, selected pieces from "Polysaccharide: The Dollhouse Drama" will be simultaneously on exhibit at the Ateneo Art Gallery for Ateneo Art Awards 2006: Outbound, a group exhibit featuring the works of the final 12 selected artists. It will be on show from August 16 - September 21, 2006.

As of press time, Navarroza s headed to Malaysia for an artist visit to the Universiti Sains Malaysia School of Arts where she is scheduled to give a talk and workshop for their Central Pillar Arts Development Program.

Presently, she is also busy at work on a new extensive fine art photography project that promises to "tell the tales of the Moon".

For more information:
Noorderlicht Photography Festival: www.noorderlicht.com/eng/newfest/index.html
Ateneo Art Gallery: gallery.ateneo.edu