As Wild As We Come

Self-portraits coming out of the artist's relocation (Manila to Istanbul), childbirth and motherhood; layered explorations into identity and place, belonging, rebirth and transformation.

« As Wild As We Come » is a series of self-portraits coming out of relocating from 2 Orients (Manila to Istanbul), punctuated by the transformative experience of childbirth and motherhood, all traversed during the pandemic amidst a personal/global standstill . The suite of 10 new large format colorful works mark a celebratory return, rebirth and regeneration . She is the Woman at the Threshold — these are her portraits . What is the threshold if not the picture frame, if not a PORTAL to a new life, new place, new time.

I unpack the WILD through many puertas/entries in my works with the WILD as : nature, woman, oriental, other .

Through the embodied self-portraits, I explore and discuss the Tropical Gothic, the « wild wild East », the wild in Women/Mother/Artist/Creatrix, postcolonial camp, the question of kitsch and « women’s work », diaspora, transnationality, post-photography, and COLOR .

When I say WE in « As Wild As We Come », I bring with me :

- We as women

- We as mothers

- We as Filipino, Southeast Asians

- We as diasporic/transnationals

- We in the multiplicity and porosity of identity and place

- We in my own multi-faceted Self

And all these experiences lived, sensorially, meaningfully, courageously .

—Wawi Navarroza, London, 2022

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“This latest collection of self-portraits by Wawi Navarroza continues the artist’s vivid, layered explorations into identity, place and belonging, with a specific focus on the female experience, motherhood and transformation. This body of work marks a particularly transformational period for the artist in which she has become a mother and moved across the globe from Manila to Istanbul, a country which sits on the cusp of Asia and Europe, the ancient and modern world. Though both experiences were destabilising in different ways, the artist chooses to reflect on how they have enriched her perspectives of the world and renewed her connection to both her body and art. There is a distinct celebratory atmosphere throughout: in the riotous melding of colour, pattern, texture… and in the depiction of birthday cakes that refer to the birth of Navarroza’s child but also her own rebirth as a mother.

Born in Manila in the Philippines, Navarroza’s practice is rooted in a deep, embodied sense of place that is best understood through the lens of ‘Tropical Gothic’ – a term coined by Filipino national artist Nick Joaquin. Navarroza describes the Tropical Gothic as a fitting portrait of Filipino culture that is a syncretic blend of the local with a heady mix of Spanish Catholic and American Pop while remaining distinctly South East Asian.

Her photographic works employ a process of in-studio 'collage' of materials in order to examine and disentangle this process of synthesis from both a very personal perspective and in relation to reductive stereotypes surrounding the Orient. Navarroza notes, for example, that the term ‘wild’ has often been used in association with the Orient to describe something unknown, dangerous or savage, but here, in the title of the exhibition, she reclaims the word as an expression of defiance, knowing, vitality and play.” — @milliewalton

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“This series’ title As Wild As They Come indicate Navarroza’s intention of maximising the Wild signifier. She has indeed accomplished this, as these photographs brim with a visual lexicon that undermines conventional and destructive meanings of the Other, nature, women, and excess. The artist’s tableaus celebrate what we’ve been conditioned to be ashamed about, embracing the chaos in a cathartic act of joy, play, and sensorial delight.” — @marvrecinto

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*The photographs are shown as large format archival pigment print mounted on dibond, with specific artist frames in selected colors.