Trans.Form by Aba Lluch Dalena talks about sexuality and love

The word ‘transform’ denotes not just a change or transition in exterior form, but also in substance. In her latest solo exhibition at the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), visual artist and musician Aba Lluch Dalena wields art to reflect on the transformative power of love: how love can transcend surface categories of being such as genders and sexes, race and physical form.  

Entitled Trans.Form (First of a Series: A Survey on Love and Sexuality) Dalena’s 10th solo exhibition showcases various sculptures, photographs, paintings, mixed media and video installations.  

The artist creates different configurations of lovers using sculptures in terra cotta or cold cast marble, creating commentaries on the issue of contemporary sexuality. Dalena’s paintings made from acrylic, enamel and mixed media reflect on the various manifestations of love—from the romantic to the familial and the spiritual.  

The exhibition also features Love is for Everyone, an installation work made in collaboration with Nana Buxani and Susan Corpuz. The series is comprised of portraits of real life couples, partners, and lovers—all candidly captured in black and white photography by the three artists. This is Dalena’s first collaborative project with Buxani, a noted documentary photographer, filmmaker and painter, and with Corpuz, a photojournalist and artist. 

Put together in a single exhibition, these multi-media works are an expression and affirmation of Dalena’s personal belief in the equality of treatment and worth of all: the creed that love does not discriminate and is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of differences in age, race, gender, and religion.   

Exhibition Design by Nilo Ilarde, Trans.Form (First of a Series: A Survey on Love and Sexuality) opens at 4 p.m. on December 6, 2012 at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Gallery and will run up to the 25th of January 2013.  Dalena will be holding an Artist’s Talk to further elaborate on the concept and story of the exhibition on January 17, 2013 (Thursday) from 2 to 5 p.m. at the NCCA’s Leandro Locsin Hall.  

Trans.Form is also made possible with the support of Orange Segment Printing. The exhibition will be on view up to January 25, 2013 at the NCCA Gallery, #633 General Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila.  Gallery hours are from 9-5 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays. For inquiries, contact (02)5272192 local 512, (02)5272212 or email ncca_gallery@yahoo.com.  Press release and photo from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts