Daily TribuneHer abstraction of geographic and geologic forms is an embrace of archipelagic thought, the worldview that islands are connected rather than fragmented, the waters between them highways instead of barriers.
Cecil Ravelas, Lui Medina, Trickie Lopa, Tina Fernandez and Raena Abella.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ARTINFORMAL
Olivia Yao
Nori Poblador
Mikey Samson
Nice Buenaventura
Toda Meneses, Pope Bacay and Johanna Helmuth.
Cos Zicarelli and Arvin Nogueras.
Monica Delgado and Wawi Navarroza.
Dinggay and Bryan Villanueva.
Lou Samson and Yeyey Cruz.
Miko Calo
Winnie Go, Pow Martinez, Arvin Nogueras, Mara Garcia, Maya Nogueras and Johanna Helmuth.
‘Untitled (Monviso).’
‘Untitled (Cateel-Alpi).’
Artinformal feted Lui Medina with an intimate celebration last 12 February for the recent acquisition of her works by the SAM (Singapore Art Museum) S.E.A. Focus Art Fund 2025 edition.
The initiative recognizes significant works of contemporary Southeast Asian art from S.E.A. Focus to be included in Singapore Art Museum’s collection.
Eleven artworks from five presenting artists of S.E.A. Focus 2025 were selected by an esteemed jury comprising guest juror Aaron Seeto, Deputy Director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Eugene Tan, chief executive officer and director of SAM, and Ong Puay Khim, director of Collection, Public Art and Programmes at SAM.
Curated by John Tung, S.E.A. Focus 2025 showcased the evolution of art in Southeast Asia guided by the theme “Disconnected Contemporaries.” The exhibit examines the fluid boundaries between past and present, bringing together a dynamic range of works from installation and paintings to new media, highlighting rich diversity and creativity within the region.
Medina’s graphite and acrylic works on paper — Untitled (Land Studies) III and Untitled (Land Studies) IV — respond to the curatorial theme by proposing topographies as ideas, transcending physical places.
“I think of the world as islands, not nations. The sea becomes different if you think of it that way,” Medina says. Her investigations take off from The Science of Strollology, by theorist and sociologist Lucius Burckhardt, who suggests that individuals perceive a landscape in multiple ways, unbound by space and time.
Another important acquisition was of Medina’s digital C-Print Untitled (Cateel-Alpi) by a private collector for an esteemed private collection of contemporary art.
Taken from a forward by Stephanie Frondoso.
