Before an artwork reaches a wall, gallery or audience, it begins in a private place: the artist’s imagination.
That inward journey lies at the heart of “Pamasyar sa Taginep,” or “A Visit to a Dream,” a monthlong exhibition bringing together 10 established, mid-career and emerging artists who live and work in Palawan.
The exhibit opened on August 1 at The Residence (former Old Governor’s Residence) along Quezon Street, Puerto Princesa City. It will run until August 31, with viewing hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Award-winning artist Jonathan Benitez, who curates the art show, said the participating artists will represent Palawan’s art community at Art Luzon, an art fair scheduled in Tarlac from October 10 to 18.
“Kami ang magre-represent sa Palawan art community sa Art Luzon,” Benitez said.
But before carrying their works beyond the province, the artists are inviting the public to enter the worlds they have built at home: images drawn from forests and coastlines, Indigenous culture, family memories, social conditions, and everyday life in the city and province.
The exhibition’s title is rooted in the idea that every work of art is first seen inwardly before it assumes a physical form. In this sense, Benitez said a dream is not an escape from reality. It is another way of examining it, allowing memories, places, relationships, and experiences to acquire new meanings.
While the participating artists use different media and visual languages, their works share several threads: memory, attachment to place, human relationships, and the need to continue creating despite limited support.
Benitez, founder of the Palawan Artists Collective, works with painting, collage, and mixed media to examine the relationship among people, nature and modern life.
He also mentors artists across the province and has received recognitions that include the Vice-Presidential Award, the City Mayor’s Award, and the Luzon Art Awards.
Joining him are Raylove John Arellado, George Bacaltos, Roderick D. Pelenia, Frances Mendoza, Leonard Ansiong, Edward Beguina, MJ Publico, Marlon Penetrante, and Elordie Mesiac.
Each artist approaches the province from a different perspective.
Benitez’s series of small watercolor paintings looks back at old Puerto Princesa, preserving familiar places that have shaped the city’s history and identity.
The works feature the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, old buildings, and a gas station once known along Quezon Street. Rendered in watercolor, the landmarks appear like fragments of memory, capturing parts of the city that have changed, disappeared, or may no longer be familiar to younger residents.
Through the series, he treats his art pieces as a form of documentation. Rather than presenting Puerto Princesa only as it looks today, he records what the old town once looked and felt like. Each small work serves as a visual reminder that the city’s identity also lives in buildings, streets, and ordinary places remembered by its residents.
Arellado, a self-taught oil painter from Brooke’s Point, draws his subjects from scenes he sees in his hometown. His works show children engaged in ordinary activities and members of the Palaw’an community, including a mother-and-child portrait.
“More on iyong mga subject ko talaga from Brooke’s Point, iyong mga typical na ginagawa ng mga bata, iyong daily life ng mga bata,” he expressed.
Although his works are rooted in actual situations, Arellado said the creative process still begins in the mind, connecting them to the exhibition’s theme of dreams taking physical form.
“All ideas start in the brain talaga,” he said.
Arellado also creates works in social realism, using art to examine issues such as corruption and the systems that allow it. His work has been recognized in provincial and national competitions, including as a semifinalist in the 2026 Metrobank Art and Design Excellence competition, and has been exhibited at the Borneo Arts Festival.
Ansiong, who is pursuing a fine arts degree at the Philippine Women’s University, builds his practice on research. His works translate environmental degradation, governance, and collective memory into visual narratives.
One of the works he discussed, an oil-on-canvas painting measuring about 4.7 by 6.5 feet. The social-realist work portrays ordinary Filipinos aboard the same boat, sharing the country’s problems and uncertainties.
“Parang ilustrasyon niya ay tayong mga Pilipino ay nasa isang bangka lang. Pare-parehas tayo ng nararanasan, pare-parehas tayo ng nararamdaman,” Ansiong said.
The oars symbolize the forces determining where the country is headed. Among the figures is a pig representing politicians, with cash visible in its pocket.
A dragon brings the West Philippine Sea dispute into the scene, symbolizing a foreign power that conceals its intentions behind its public statements.
“Parang sinu-sugarcoat nila iyong kanilang mga ginagawa, kahit alam naman at halata naman ang tunay na intensyon nila sa Pilipinas,” he said about what China is doing in the West Philippine Sea.
The rough sea in the background reflects the country’s uncertain situation. Ansiong also incorporated imagery inspired by National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco, including Andres Bonifacio as a symbol of Filipinos’ resistance against foreign powers. Fish connect that history of resistance to present concerns involving Philippine waters.
Mendoza has worked for nearly three decades in painting, murals, fiber art, and mixed media. Her dreamlike pieces inspire Filipino folklore, nature, memory, and ordinary life.
Benitez said one of her art pieces is tattooed hands crocheting a doll against a purple background. Loose threads run across the canvas, while a ball of yarn floats above the unfinished figure.
The close-up composition makes the viewer feel as if they are watching the doll come to life. The large hands and visible stitches emphasize the time, skill, and care involved in handmade work.
Beguina uses animals as metaphors for human behavior, a style that has become a recurring feature of his paintings.
“Yung mga artwork ko, karamihan ay hayop, tapos metaphor siya ng ugali ng tao,” he said.
One of his works, titled “Nagbanal na Aso,” features a Dogo Argentino, a breed known for its territorial behavior. He used the animal’s traits to reflect similar tendencies in people.
Another painting depicts a grouper locally called “lapu-lapu,” which inspired him during a trip to Pag-asa Island, Kalayaan town, in March, when he and other artists worked on a mural.
Beguina said people on the island told him they call the fish “Isdang Tanga” because it frequently takes bait from fishing lines in the area.
“Very Palawan siya,” Beguina said of the fish and the story behind the painting.
For Penetrante, textured mixed-media works provide a means of examining environmental concerns, social issues, and human experience.
He also works as a sculpture restorer who has helped conserve monuments in Puerto Princesa.
Publico’s semi-abstract works, meanwhile, draw from modern art, the internet, and social media. His pieces examine the self and its immediate surroundings through a hybrid visual style.
Three of his works on display use bright colors, distorted bodies, and repeated symbols to create scenes that feel playful but unsettled.
The central and largest painting shows three figures in blue, orange and purple, each with several eyes. Their enlarged bodies fill most of the canvas, while three empty chairs sit below them. One figure rests a hand on another’s head, while an arm appears to extend from the orange figure’s chest.
The multiple eyes suggest people watching, judging or seeing events from different points of view, while the empty chairs create a sense of absence or disconnection.
Indigenous identity in art
The exhibition also features artists whose practices are tied to Indigenous identity and traditions.
Bacaltos, a Tagbanua artist from Aborlan, is known for detailed rubber-cut prints. He also works in terracotta, producing his pieces in limited numbers because of the time required for each work.
Pelenia, also from Aborlan, works in rubber-cut printmaking, sculpture, and other visual media. His art brings together the human face, nature and tradition, with the aim of strengthening appreciation for cultural heritage and the environment.
Mesiac, another Tagbanua artist and a recent recipient of the City Mayor’s Award, has worked in art for more than two decades.
He began by drawing subjects inspired by his hometown of Aborlan before learning terracotta, tie-dye, printmaking, and jewelry making through an art program that brought him to different parts of the Philippines.
He later became known for rubber-cut printmaking and now also combines printmaking with terracotta and mixed media. Mesiac explained that his prints may be released in numbered editions, with each copy remaining an original impression from the carved block. Some are marked “AP,” meaning “artist’s proof,” while a “1/1” marking means only one impression exists.
Mesiac recently received the City Mayor’s Award and has also been recognized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He conducts art workshops in Palawan, passing on the techniques he has learned to other artists.
Together, the artists resist the idea that Palawan must be represented through one visual style. The exhibition instead presents the province as a place of many experiences, cultures and artistic voices.
That diversity is central to “Pamasyar sa Taginep.” The works do not attempt to establish a single “Palawan aesthetic.” They show how different artists interpret the places and conditions that have shaped them.
Creating from the margins
The exhibit also draws attention to the realities of pursuing art far from the country’s major art centers.
Artists in Palawan contend with geographic distance, limited institutional backing, and uncertain incomes. These conditions can restrict access to galleries, buyers, training and wider audiences.
The artists have responded by organizing among themselves, building creative communities and creating their own spaces for exhibitions.
“Pamasyar sa Taginep” is being staged in an alternative venue, reflecting the artists’ reliance on collective action. It is not only an exhibition but also a fundraising effort connected to their participation in Art Luzon.
“Fundraising na rin ang exhibit. Iyong makakalap na sales ay para makatulong sa mga kasamahan namin,” Benitez said.
Proceeds from the sale of the artworks will be used to support their fellow participating artists, he added.
For the group, the journey from Puerto Princesa to Art Luzon is another dream taking physical form. Each artwork carries its maker’s vision, but the coming trip also rests on something shared: artists supporting one another so their work can travel farther than any of them might manage alone.
