Arts & Culture (07/08/26)

Queer exhibit highlights comics fest

THE 7^th edition of the Philippine International Comics Festival (PICOF) is ongoing until July 12 at Ayala Malls The 30^th in Pasig City, with Japan taking center stage as this year’s Country of Highlight. Among its featured programs is SINTA (Beloved): Queer Stories Across Asia, an international comics exhibition done in partnership with The Japan Foundation and BLushCon, showcasing works by queer comics creators from Japan and Southeast Asia. The exhibit features artists including Masaomi Ito, Ayu Yamane, antarcticbear, Isha Wang, Kayraa, Everwetscent, blue, Scottyiscringe, Tagasaing, and Tsambolero, highlighting stories of love, identity, and belonging across cultures. As part of the 2026 Japan-Philippines Friendship Year, the event will also offer masterclasses, artist talks, and panel discussions exploring manga, Boys’ Love (BL), and contemporary queer storytelling, while continuing PICOF’s mission of promoting Filipino komiks and fostering international creative exchange.

Ang INK celebrates its 35^th year with exhibit

THE children’s illustration group Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK) marks its 35^th anniversary with Stories We Tell, an exhibition which will run from July 11 to Aug. 8 at Fundacion Sansó in San Juan City. Featuring more than 70 artworks by Ang INK members, the exhibit will celebrate the power of visual storytelling by inviting viewers to imagine the narratives that unfold between each artwork’s beginning and end. A companion exhibit, Side Stories, at the venue’s ScholarSip Café pays tribute to the late illustrator and graphic artist Robert A. Alejandro, honoring his belief that art should be accessible to all and that every child deserves the opportunity to create and tell stories. The month-long celebration also includes panel discussions, workshops, portfolio reviews, storytelling sessions, and family-oriented activities highlighting the craft and impact of illustration in the Philippines.

Balquin, Pettyjohn show at MO_Space

MO_SPACE will open two new exhibitions on July 11: Renegade Garden by Jan Balquin at the Main Gallery and New Ghosts by Hanna Pettyjohn in Gallery 2, both running until Aug. 9. In Renegade Garden, Ms. Balquin explores perception, beauty, and materiality through a miniature garden that combines real and artificial flowers, allowing natural decay to challenge ideas of authenticity and permanence. Meanwhile, New Ghosts sees Ms. Pettyjohn revisit years of documenting her parents’ pottery studio, transforming photographs into paintings and ceramic works that examine memory, translation, and the gradual evolution of objects through repeated acts of representation. The exhibitions will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at MO_Space, Bonifacio High Street, Makati City.

The M holds printmaking classes on Saturdays

THE Metropolitan Museum of Manila (The M) is holding a series of printmaking workshops every Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., until November. Open to beginners and experienced makers alike (ages 12 and above), these hands-on workshops introduce a range of printmaking techniques while encouraging participants to create original prints and experiment with color and editions. Led by printmakers Ambie Abaño, Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan, Jone Sibugan, and Anton Villaruel, registration for the series is still open. Meanwhile, “Foundations of Framing: Principles and Practice” will be held on Saturday, July 25, 2-3:30 p.m. This is a talk and live demonstration on the essentials of professional art framing. Learn how proper framing protects, preserves, and enhances artwork while gaining practical insights into framing materials, industry best practices, and what to look for when working with a custom framer. For more information and additional inquiries on the workshops, contact The M’s Education Officer, Pat Zulueta, at [email protected]. Meanwhile, there are a number of ongoing exhibits at the museum: Winna Go: Seams of Memory, is ongoing at Groundspace until July 12; Threads of Dreams runs until July 26 at the 2^nd floor South Gallery; Power of Engagement can be viewed at the 3^rd floor North Gallery; and Femme Hommage: Selected Works from the M Collection is on view at the 3^rd floor South Gallery. The Metropolitan Museum of Manila is at the MK Tan Center, 30^th St., BGC, Taguig. It is open from Tuesdays to Fridays at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. except on public holidays.

Spain holds exhibits across Manila

THE Embassy of Spain in the Philippines — through Instituto Cervantes and its Cultural and Education Offices — concludes its first half of cultural calendar this year with a series of exhibitions and artistic initiatives staged across various venues in Manila. Over the past months, the Embassy has partnered with local and Spanish artists and institutions to present exhibitions that highlight the rich artistic and historical connections between the two countries. These exhibits are still on view. At the Museo San Agustín in Intramuros, the exhibit Buen Camino showcases the different routes of the Camino de Santiago that pilgrims follow on foot until the city of Santiago de Compostela. A thought-provoking exhibition simultaneously displayed at the Instituto Cervantes in Intramuros and the UP Vargas Museum in Diliman, Quezon City is Melodías del pensamiento (Melodies of Thougth), a series of photographs by Spanish artist García de Marina who explores music beyond the realm of sound, transforming instruments, sheet music, and musical elements into visual metaphors. Side by side with the García de Marina exposition at the UP Vargas Museum is another collaboration with a Spanish artist entitled Embracing the wind, Cradling the water by Cristina Mejías. Manila Calling, a traveling exhibit on view at the Centro de Turismo in Intramuros, brings together 70 artists from Spain, the Philippines, and Japan, whose work, originally painted on walls in different cities, are printed on silk cloth. Across Manila Calling on the same floor is the permanent exhibition Four Centuries of Spanish Engineering Overseas. On view at Fort Santiago is a mural colorfully emblazoned with the word “TAGPUAN” by the Madrid-based street art collective Boa Mistura. Spain’s Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval as well as the Archivo Histórico de la Armada “Juan Sebastián Elcano” have joined forces to help produce the exhibition Returning to Manila: The Galleon Trade in Maps, at the Museo del Galeón in Mall of Asia. And over at Baler, Aurora, Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day was marked by the National Museum of the Philippines opening its new museum, featuring a gallery dedicated to the enduring ties of friendship, history, and cultural exchange between the Philippines and Spain.

Pasts Revisited exhibit extended until July 31

THE Constantino Foundation and Yuchengco Museum have officially extended the run of Pasts Revisited: An Exhibit on a Usable History and the Romance of Renato Constantino and Letizia Roxas Constantino until July 31. Currently housed at the museum inside RCBC Plaza in Makati City, the exhibition highlights the celebrated husband-and-wife historian duo whose writings profoundly reshaped Filipino identity. For the first time, the public can view personal artifacts, rare art and photos, historical notes, and contemporary expressions. On display are never-before-seen book manuscripts, personal letters, Renato’s writing desk, and his wood pipes, which were once so coveted that National Artist Vicente Manansala reportedly bartered a custom painting to acquire one. Artworks gifted to the couple by Manansala and renowned painters Malang and Araceli Dans, alongside photos with close friends like Senators Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tañada, are also exhibited together with handwritten notes from historians such as William Henry Scott, Doreen Fernandez, and Edilberto Alegre. In addition, there are new art pieces exploring a “usable history” created in collaboration with the advocacy group 350 Pilipinas, including the “Alas ng Bayan” project, which highlights five Filipino women who resisted national oppression. The museum is open from Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission fees apply, with discounts available for students, teachers, senior citizens, and PWDs. Group visits can be scheduled by contacting [email protected].