"Payatas" by Oscar Villamiel
NAVIGATION:
| FORM | LANGUAGE | PRODUCTION |
PRODUCTION
Context
With his solo show called "Stories Of Our Time," Villamiel aimed to imitate the atmosphere of the Payatas dumpsite. He joined the inhabitants of the infamous landfill, a sizable area of land in Quezon City to the north of Metro Manila and became fully immersed in their daily struggles. He gathered excavated dolls from Payatas in a span of two years, buying them by the kilo. These were the dolls that children scavenged and reused.
Works from "Stories of Our Time"
 Ground floor space depicting dolls hanging from the ceiling |
 Shelf lined with doll heads |
 Glass case containing a taxidermized(?) crocodile clutching a bloody doll in its jaws |
Oscar Villamiel at Payatas collecting materials for the 2013 Singapore Biennale
 Oscar Villamiel holding a piece of plywood at Payatas |
 Worn-out and destroyed dolls collected in Payatas |
Distribution & Reception
Villamiel’s installation was chosen to represent the Philippines in an exhibition called the 2013 “Singapore Biennale: If the World Changed, Singapore Art Museum (SAM),” which brought him a major global spotlight for the first time. His work was also exhibited at the 2017 “Unchanging Ever Changing: A Solo Exhibition by Oscar Villiamel, Mind Set Art Center”. There was no available consensus for the viewer’s reception to the installation. Artworks like this, though, which depicts the lives of those enduring poverty, could contain visually distressing images that elicit too extreme emotions from the viewer. Some artworks could also expose a certain individual or group’s suffering in public. That is why it is still important to be cautious and sensitive. In terms of the institutions, it can be said that they are open with these types of artworks given the fact that Villamiel’s installation was chosen in an international exhibition, which led to more opportunities that awaited him.
 Visitor inside the "Payatas" installation at "2013 Singapore Biennale: If the World Changed" |
 Oscar Villamiel's "Forest at Night" for his solo exhibition "Unchanging Ever Changing" |