Wawi Navarroza

 

(born 1979, Manila, Philippines) is a 28-year old Filipina visual artist working with the medium of photography. She graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Arts (Photography) from De La Salle University, Manila (2002). As a student, she received De La Salle Universitys José Rizal Consistent Deans Honors List award. She was mentored by acclaimed contemporary artist/curator/educator Judy Sibayan. She also graduated from a lighting design masterclass prominent Japanese lighting designer Shoko Matsamuto. In 2005, she was given scholarship by the Angkor Photography Festival to train under French photographers such as Magnum-member Antoine d Agata.

Navarroza,s photography translates abstract concepts into symbolic portraits and visual poems. She explores mindscapes and everyday evidences of the archetypal as seen through the prism of personal experience, all in silent pursuit of mapping out the Self. Her imagery stands with the backbone of myth, poetry, and song. Storytelling and narrative are common in her works. The dark and brooding melancholy present in her tableaus are direct mirrors of her musings on the ephemeral nature of things. Her portraits are both disturbing and subtle at the same time; the photographic experiments and hand manipulation on monochrome film extensions of her philosophies.

Aside from her numerous independent exhibits, Navarroza has exhibited two (2) major award-winning solo exhibitions: “POLYSACCHARIDE: The Dollhouse Drama” (2005) and "SATURNINE: A Collection of Portraits, Creatures, Glass, and Shadow" (2007) which was cited Winner at the Ateneo Art Awards 2007, the Philippines most prestigious award-giving body for emerging Filipino contemporary art. Her latest exhibit in July 2007 was a collection of new works titled "Santa Frida: 100 Años Entre Nosotros/100 Years Between Us" in homage to Mexican painter Frida Kahlos birth centennial on appointment by the Instituto Cervantes de Manila. Also this year, Navarroza held a masterclass as a guest artist at the Fotomasterskie Petersburgskie in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Outside the Philippines, Navarroza has exhibited in Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Australia, Russia, and the Netherlands (Fries Museum of Contemporary Art). She has been awarded in the Philippines (Art Association of the Philippines, Ateneo Art Awards, etc.) and abroad ("Con Otros Ojos" Barcelona, Spain, Prix de la Photographie Paris, etc.)

Her fine art photographs are collected by individuals and institutions in the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, Russia, France, Switzerland, and England. Some of her images appear in the art book "Delve: An Exploration of Visual Culture" (New York) and in coffee table books "EPIX Best Images 2005" (Manila) and Aurora Borealis "Noorderlicht: Another Asia" (Netherlands).

As of the present, January 2008, she is doing her artist residency in Singapore as a Grant she received from Artesan Art Gallery (Singapore).

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