EXHIBIT NOTES

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In Dansoy Coquilla’s paintings, figures gaze upward—toward something unseen, perhaps beyond the frame. This upward gaze draws the viewer into the work, inviting them to take a position within the scene: as an observer from above, a bird in flight, or someone standing on higher ground looking down at the crowd. The audience becomes implicated in the very act of observation that the artist constructs.

In contrast, Alapaap (Ulap) Coquilla’s works are not about looking down, but about seeing from below. Her use of the worm’s-eye view recalls the vantage point of a child looking up—curious, observant, and full of quiet wonder. This inversion of perspective lends tenderness to the dialogue between father and daughter, where spatial orientation becomes a metaphor for the relationship. Through these opposing yet connected gazes, Tingala’t Yuko reveals how generations meet—not in sameness, but in the shared act of looking toward each other from different ground.

Tingala’t Yuko: Paano Magtagpo? (Look Up and Look Down: How Do They Meet?) poses a fitting question for a father-and-daughter exhibition. The show explores how two artists—formed in different eras and guided by distinct concerns—intersect not only through familial ties but through visual and conceptual dialogue.

 

Dansoy renders characters from the Trillion Peso March, while Ulap turns her attention to women’s bodies and how they carry themselves within contemporary settings. Young and independent, her figures embody a sense of promise—poised toward a bright future ahead.

This dialogue culminates in their collaborative work, Black Spaghetti, where their perspectives converge. In the upper half, a crowd looks upward, their view obstructed by tangled electrical wires—metaphors for the chaos and complexity of modern life. From below, the view shifts: the wires vanish, and figures appear unobstructed. The work bridges vantage points, suggesting that understanding and connection are found not by choosing one view over another, but in recognizing the space where they meet.

- Marz Aglipay, curator