Yani Unsana
August 23 – September 4, 2020
Secret Fresh (Gallery A)
Ronac Art Center, Ortigas Ave, 1502 San Juan, Philippines
The current pandemic has disrupted most of our routines and has immensely altered the course of everyday life. Along with drastic changes in notions of the normal and usual is equally a distancing of memories that shape our very sense of time—how we distinguish each passing day through particular sights and activities. The weekdays, plotted as schedules for the daily grind, of going to and from work or school, now bleeds into precious moments of respite every weekend as people spend all days within the confines of their homes. Yani Unsana’s new solo exhibition takes a grip on the pre-pandemic state through a recollection of scenes associated with the day of rest for most. In Lost Sundays, he pictures the outdoors of crowded streets, venues animated by social gatherings, and children enjoying rides and posing with mascots on their day out. The images appear blurry and obscured by scratches and cracks, as if showing a world gradually fading before our eyes as quarantines get prolonged and prospects of returning to normalcy remains uncertain.
Yani Unsana attended the Technological University of the Philippines in Manila and has been landing consistently as finalist in national art competitions, most notably in the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence and the Shell National Students Art Competition. As an artist, he takes interest in Filipino customs, traditions and practices, and explores how these are enriched by various cultural influences which Filipinos appropriate and accommodate to their own.
This show is curated by Ruel Caasi in collaboration with the Secret Fresh Gallery X The Working Animals Art Projects (TWA)
