The Northern part of Luzon — with its flat terrain, coastline, and vast mountain ranges— plays a fundamental part in our history for it was a home to many notable and prominent figures who made their mark in the formation of our national identity. In this show, seven artists from this region bring us tales, stories, commentaries, and other portrayals of their own realities, influenced by their affinity to the land of their origin and correspondingly to their own experiences of other territories. This integration brings Puntong Hilaga, which serves as a vessel of an overall manifestation of the different engagements that these artists hope to explore to express their desires, frustrations, and all that is related to the living while finding their “true north” or direction in life. Here, we find images of demigods, hybrid creatures, alternate versions of human portraits, and sometimes uncanny translations of the world before them.

In this, we are forced by our own curiosity to look and notice the delicate ingenuity presented. We then compare ourselves and ask how our perspective has been magnetized by our origin and the identity that we subscribe to, thus, conceivably creating similar versions of realities, which we are only made aware of because of the place we came from.

–Gwen Bautista