Ayala Museum’s visible storage offerings (Aprille Tijam, Philippines, ITP 2019)
Written by Aprille Tijam, Senior Manager, Exhibitions and Collections, Ayala Museum (Philippines, ITP 2019)
In August 2022, the Visible Storage at Ayala Museum, Philippines was launched with an exhibition presentation of Handog 2: Donations and Loans (2017-2021) on one side, and a showcase of Philippine ethnographic materials across it. The first exhibition of donations over the years was presented in 2018 as Handog: Gifts and Loans. The word handog means “gift.”
THE LAST DONATION RECEIVED IN 2021 WAS BIRDS (1965) BY VICENTE MANANSALA (GIFT OF DR. OFELIA T. MONZON).
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AYALA MUSEUM
In the ITP Newsletter 2022, I shared that this VISIBLE STORAGE is a space offering another window for appreciation and purposive engagements with the museum’s collection. It was incorporated in the 2019 renovations in response to the limited storage facilities for the growing collection. It will also introduce dynamic opportunities for interpretation and interaction with selected 300 artefacts appropriate for display in this space, out of more than 9,000 objects in our care. It is a platform supporting the sustainable transfer of knowledge of our art and traditions from our generation to the next.
Photo courtesy of Ayala Museum
The Visible Storage was organised by our team at Collections—in collaboration with my colleagues—(IN PHOTO FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) Aprille Tijam (Senior Manager, Exhibitions and Collections), Kam Omolida (Senior Associate for Collections), Kenneth Esguerra (Senior Curator and Head of Conservation), and Arnold Torrecampo (Associate Manager for Collections).
On exhibit are donations and loans generously entrusted to Ayala Museum from 2017 to 2021 by Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Federico de Vera, Diego Cañedo, Dr. Ofelia T. Monzon, Guillermo Pla and Monica Zobel de Ayala, and Fernando and Catherine Zobel de Ayala.
Photo courtesy of Ayala Museum
Included are rare books by Frank Tennyson Neely–NEELY’S PHOTOGRAPHS: PANORAMIC VIEWS OF CUBA, PORTO RICO, MANILA, AND THE PHILIPPINES, and FIGHTING IN THE PHILIPPINES (both published in 1899) that give us a glimpse of 19th century Philippines. Recent additions to the museum’s collections of photographs are black and white portraits of Fernando Zobel, views of Cuenca, Spain, and Zobel’s studio by Fernando Nuño, who was a Spanish photographer who collaborated with Zobel as one of the honorary curators when they established the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español in Cuenca in the mid-1960s; and sepia-toned portraits of Zobel by Diego Cañedo. Also on exhibit is Stanzas in Love with Life and August Poems (1965) by Peter Viereck, with illustrations by Fernando Zobel. It is known that Zobel’s great interest in literature led him to collaborate with respected writers during his lifetime. These are complemented with never-before seen drawings by Zobel showing his keen eye for details of his surroundings and people. Albums of old photographs Recuerdos de Mindanao interestingly showcase rare photos of landscapes and communities in 19th century Mindanao. And the last donation received in 2021 was a painting on Birds by Vicente Manansala, Philippine National Artist for Visual Arts.
Photo courtesy of Ayala Museum
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS BY FERNAND NUÑO. PHOTOS COURTESY OF AYALA MUSEUM
On one side of the Visible Storage is a visual display of ethnographic objects representing select Philippine ethnolinguistic groups —salakot (hat), weapons like bolo, swords, blades, and spears; brassware including a variety of lotoan (betel nut container), food molds, drinking vessels, gongs; wooden musical instruments and food containers, kurab (body armour), accessories such as earrings, beaded necklaces, bangles, kurobata (breast ornament), beaded bags, akosan (ritual belt), pangalapang (shell necklace), pasiking (backpack with rain shield); and scale models of boats that plied the Philippine rivers all throughout its history.
Photo by Aprille Tijam
And a selected object highlighted as Collections Corner is on display in an upright showcase with 100 words describing its significance. This was inspired by the ITP’s Object in Focus project. This showcase will host a rotation of objects from the museum’s collection, aiming to present the actual objects digitally featured in the Globe Digital Gallery at the Ground Floor that I have shared in The Power of Digital Spaces and People at Ayala Museum, and which are not part of the permanent exhibitions. More programmes are slated to be launched as part of the offering of the Visible Storage at Ayala Museum.
