Intertwined Conversations: Transoceanic Journey of Luxury Goods

A lecture series formatted as conversations between experts—both overseas and local—with the aim of sharing their scholarship and expertise in topics that connect to the themes of the exhibition, Intertwined: Transpacific, Transcultural Philippines.

VIRTUAL TALK 2:
Intertwined Conversations: Transoceanic Journey of Luxury Goods

Philippine Identity: Engraved and Embroidered by Ms. Sandra Castro

Select examples of Philippine silverwork and piña embroidery made the transoceanic journeys to Europe and America from the 1890s to the early 1900s as souvenirs from the Philippines. These objects came in the form of Western material culture – like service sets for drinking chocolate, coffee, or tea and women’s accessories such as shawls and handkerchiefs. Fashioned for a foreign clientele, Philippine identity was inscribed in these luxury goods in the form of tipos del pais (“types of the country”), wherein inhabitants of the country were illustrated with reference to costume, occupation, gender or race.

Philippine Conduits:Silk, Cotton and Piña Cloth in the Americas by Dr. Elena Phipps

Silk was a luxury fabric that by the 16th century engaged the global imagination, and the Philippines was the conduit for much of this interchange, especially to the Americas. Arriving via the trade routes across the Pacific, the impact of this luxury item, along with other specialty fabrics such as the dye-painted chintz from India, and piña cloth from the Philippines, was felt throughout the Americas. These items coming via the Manila Galleon trade, feed the appetite of the New World for these new materials, as a central part of the colonial social transformations taking place.

date_range 10 Sep 2022

access_time 9:00 AM

location_on Zoom

payment Regular - P850 Discounted* - P750 Member - P600 Senior & PWD - P600 *AGC employees, ARC members, students and teachers

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For more information, please email us at hello@ayalamuseum.org

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About the Facilitators

Dr. Elena Phipps

Speaker

Elena Phipps, has her PhD from Columbia University in Precolumbian Art History and Archaeology, 1989. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 34 years as a textile conservator as well as co- curator for two major textile exhibitions: The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork 1430-1830, in 2004 (whose catalogue was awarded the CAA Alfred Barr Jr. Award and the Mitchell Prize) and The Interwoven Globe: worldwide textile trade (2013). She has focused her professional work on the study of the history of textile materials and techniques, in cultural contexts. Her other publications include Cochineal Red: the art history of a color (MMA, 2010) and Looking at Textiles: a technical terminology (Getty Publications, 2013) and many articles. Elena teaches textile history, techniques and cultures in the Department of World Arts and Culture/Dance, University of California at Los Angeles, (UCLA) since 2011.

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Sandra Castro

Speaker

Sandra Castro is a former curator of the Intramuros Administration, the Geronimo Berenguer De los Reyes Foundation, Ayala Museum (Philippines) and the Chapman Historical Museum (New York). She has postgraduate degrees in museum studies (University of Manchester) and information science (State University of New York). Her publications include Nipis (Intramuros Administration, 1991), A Guide to the Museum of the Filipino People (National Museum of the Philippines, 2001), Art of the Cross (Ayala Museum, 2001), and Textiles in the Philippine Colonial Landscape: A Lexicon and Historical Survey (Ateneo University Press, 2018). Her most recent essays are included in Embroidered Multiples: 18th – 19th Century Philippine Costumes from the National Museum of Ethnology, The Netherlands (Ayala Foundation, 2007), Fashionable Filipinas: An Evolution of the Philippine National Dress in Photographs, 1860-1960 (Slim’s Foundation and Suyen Corporation, 2015).

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Dr. Florina H. Capistrano-Baker

Moderator

Florina H. Capistrano-Baker received a PhD, MPhil, and MA from the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. She has received numerous grants and fellowships from Columbia University, the Asian Cultural Council, the Ford Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the American Association of University Women, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Getty Research Institute. Her recent publications include Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms (Asia Society and Ayala Foundation, 2015).

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