Name: Alyssa Mae.

Gurrea Strand & Block: ABM12 – Block A4

PETER JAMES FANTINALAGO and MOREEN AUSTRIA

Peter James Fantinalgo is born in 1983 in Capiz, Peter James Fantinalgo is a visual
artist, who was admitted to the La Consolacion College-Bacolod’s Fine Arts program in
2001.He has been on lots of exhibition, solo or group, conducted within the Philippines.

The following are his solo exhibitions: Illusion Allusion, Gallery Orange, Bacolod
City, Philippines. Aside from that, Fantinalgo had also been on group exhibition such as the
2014 Force Field at Gallery Orange, Bacolod City, Philippines, 2014 Safety By Numbers, at
Ysobel Art Gallery, Fort Global, Taguig City, Philippines, 2014 The World According To Us,
at Gallery Orange, Bacolod City, Philippines and lastly is the 2013 No Difference, at Qube
Gallery, Cebu, Philippines.

Moreen has been painting since she was a kid but needed to suppress her passion
and have a regular job because as a mother with mouths to feed, that seemed more
practical. But when she turned 35, she finally took the courage to pursue her childhood
dream. Trying hard to divert her attention from art for so long, Moreen finally decided to
quit her job as a medical representative and concentrate on her first love, which is painting.
Since 2011, she has been a full-time artist. As an artist, Moreen already considers herself to
be well-rounded for she can paint using any medium. She does oil, acrylic, watercolor and
even charcoal and does not limit herself to explore more.

“The more interaction with the fellow artists, and travels, the more you tend to push
yourself to do more as an artist,” she shares. Her works serves as a reflection of herself;
she even hides words behind her works. But when she visited Florence in Europe, there she
found another inspiration. She saw a sculpture made of metal and that moved her to enroll
in TESDA and learn welding. After her schooling, she started to venture the world of
sculpture. In the gallery, you can see one of her sculpture, the ‘Black Cupid.’

“Black Cupid” for she believes that nothing could be more mysterious than love and
what love could be capable of. She says that during the time she was doing the sculpture
she is reading a book about the dark Visayan mythical creatures. On March 16, Moreen will
have her first sculpture exhibit at Balay ni Tanadika Kapitana Gallery in Talisay.

Lawig, a Hiligaynon word which means umbilical cord, is an exhibition of scultpures

and installations by Bacolod-based artists Moreen Austria and Peter James Fantinalgo. It
probes into the umbilical connection between the neighboring islands of Negros and Panay
in the Visayas region of the Philippines. The provinces’ tightly tangled history, shared
language and unique culture has undergone significant transformations that produced two
distinct mental mode of realities – one elitist, and another populist, that resulted in the
incessant “sibling rivalry” that has existed for decades.

Lawig envisions a contemporary exhibition that stages the uniqueness of the Negros
and Panay relationship as shaped by its past and reflected by the vitality of its shared and
separate present. It aspires to create a venue for Hiligaynon historical and sociocultural
reevaluation.

Notes by Noell Farol and Mervy Pueblo state that “Moreen Austria explores the use
of welded steel and salvaged hardwood from old houses that reminds us of the extravagant
social conditions in the past.” Negros Occidental is known for old Spanish houses, The
Ruins has been featured in a local film, Everyday I Love You. The welded figures in her
works represent the laborers called sakada in sugarcane fields (sugar was the main
product and export of Negros Occidental during the Spanish period up until recent times).