Finding new stories from the past is what you can find in this exhibit. It is reminiscing nostalgia from old photographs and textiles. Weaving the two in one exhibit.
The Alliance Française de Manille features the Woven Traces Exhibition. It opened on March 12, 2026. It displays a photograph from the collection of Angela Silva. Along with Francis Dravigny’s textile art.
Reminiscing About the Past
Angela Silva is a Filipina mixed-media visual artist and printmaker. She has in her home several photo albums collecting dust. Pictures were pulled out from these albums and framed on a blueprint for the public.
The photographs on exhibition were taken from 1900 to the 1940s. According to Silva most, if not all, of the photographs were taken using the Brownie camera. These small pictures echo the past.
The beautiful collections of sepia photos tell how far they are from the past. Most of them are pictures of family, events, and local scenes. You can tell how much has changed in Filipino society from the past to today.
Looking at these photos you can relive history. These photos are collaged beautifully framed on blueprint backgrounds. The backgrounds are also an imprint from the old postcards. You will definitely reminisce.
Framing Two Cultures
Besides these, there are framed textiles. These are collections of Francis Dravigny. He is a French artist exploring textiles as his medium.
Most of the artworks on display are kimonos. These are old kimonos that he acquired in Japan. He cuts them up into strips. He then weaves them into a “banig” or Filipino mat. A merging of two cultures in one art.
Dravigny is giving an afterlife to these old materials. Fascinated with Filipino culture that is why he weaves them like a banig. He weaves the kimonos with strips of abaca.
It is similar to where the Filipino halo-halo dessert was derived. When Japanese immigrants came to the Philippines in the 1900s. They brought with them the kakigori (shaved ice) dessert that later evolved into halo-halo. This shows how Japanese culture has been intertwined in the Filipino society even before the Pacific War. Much the same as how Dravigny’s artwork shows.
People can experience the exhibit at the Alliance Française de Manille. It will be displayed from March 12 to April 11.
