Bridging the Creative Divides

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu’s 856G Gallery capped the month of October with a multi-motif show, which brought various artistic crafts and creative disciplines together as one.

Titled “Mise en Scène” and mainlined by abaca textile-based room dividers by French designer and textile maker Francis Dravigny, the show essentially presented the centuries-old home accent piece in different undertones – as pieces of art that were brought to form by collaborations with various talents.

Steered by the thematic nuances of its title – which is a French stage production phrase that relates to “telling a story” – the show told the story of how a textile maker worked with a fashion designer, a printmaker and painters to come up with hybrid pieces that embodied the technical and creative nuances of their crafts.

Overtured by a Chinoiserie tone, the creative display presented the creative intonations of Cebuano fashion designer OJ Hoffer, printmaker Charles Lahti and painters Wayne Forte and ARTIGAL in a novel light – set as home accent pieces that are base-banded by Dravigny’s abaca-based space dividers.

Believed to have been developed in East Asia by the seventh century (subsequently in the 18th Century by the Europeans), the room divider has been used for centuries to partition living spaces for various purposes.

In “Mise en Scène,” this practical side of the room divider was played up by its featured pieces, while also framing a different aspect to the item: it exemplified how something that’s intended to divide can also connect – how a room divider can bridge creative divides.