Pacita Abad: A Million Things To Say

Pacita Abad: A Million Things To Say presents the artist’s work within the discourse generated by her trapuntos – stitched, padded and quilted paintings that she began in the late 1970s. The exhibition also offers a move away from the artist’s tendency towards self-exoticization, that of being a ‘woman of colour’. Abad’s conscious use of this double entendre – her work was characterized by her use of colour, but also as reference to her dark skin – while possible during the 1980s, can be deleterious in the 21st century where there are as many ‘safe places’ as there are categories of self.

Published in 2021 by Pacita Abad Art Estate, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde & Museum of Contemporary Art & Design

161 pages