Photo from the Visayas Art Fair official FB page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Now on its second year, the Visayas Art Fair (VAF) 2023 comes back with a bang as it features an all-women exhibit and is participated by 33 galleries nationwide.
Cebuano artists, creatives, and art enthusiasts can indulge in the activities lined up for the four-day VAF at Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City from Nov. 24-27, 2022.
VAF, presented by Cebu Design Week (CDW), aims to expound the relationship between the visual arts and the creative industries that fuel economic potential for them. The first VAF was held last year at the Montebello Villa Hotel.
The event also serves as a platform to expose and educate other sectors, artists, and galleries from the capital about the culture and art scenes in the Visayas.
Fourteen of the 33 participating galleries in this year’s VAF are coming from the National Capital Region.
This year’s VAF, which follows the theme “Connecting the Islands through Art”, features art talks, workshops, an on-the-spot painting contest, a fashion show, and live performances.
Laurie Boquiren, chairwoman of VAF and a CDW trustee, during a press conference at Sheraton Mactan Cebu Resort on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, said about 1,500 works by more than 500 artists would be displayed and presented during the VAF this year.
They also expect about 1,000 guests daily.
Boquiren also said Emmanuel Garibay would be talking about the importance of “Art in the Region.”
Garibay is the artist, writer, and founder of the “Linangan Art Residency Program.”
Moreover, renown designer Kenneth Cobonpue also curates the “Bodega Caravan,” a creative market evoking early traveling caravans that transported goods from village to village.
The Bodega Caravan will feature items from the various sustainable art and furniture companies like La Galuche, Cebu Homecraft, and Lakat Sustainables, to name a few.
“I personally handpicked the companies that are going to be assembled at the Oakridge tent and each company has something unique and exciting to share to all of you,” Cobonpue said in a video message.
A new category for Placemaking, the Blue Mango Awards, spearheaded by Architect Buck Sia of the United Architects of the Philippines in Cebu and other leaders of the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers-Cebu Chapter, will also be presented at the Bodega Caravan.
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