Sign on for a different kind of lecture on Rizal
MANILA, Philippines - The Yuchengco Museum presents a graphological lecture entitled “The Signature of Rizal: A View from Within” by architect Emmanuel Miñana on Saturday, Oct. 8, 3 p.m. at the museum’s Masters’ Gallery. The lecture is open to the public with limited seats only.
This talk forms part of a series of lectures on various topics on the life of our national hero. This year commemorates Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary.
Miñana is an architect by profession who’s had a life-long interest in painting, drafting, photography and graphology. He received his degree in architecture from UP Diliman and took up further education on sustainable and green architecture, hotel design, tourism and resort design from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
He started his interest and study of graphology when he was 12. For the past 30 years, he has analyzed thousands of signatures here and abroad. Miñana wants to share a clearer, finer insight into the nature of people through his personal studies and graphological hypotheses.
“I was 10 years old when I decided I wanted to be an architect,” says Miñana. “My interest in lines, spaces, shapes and forms took a slight detour a few years after. On one occasion, I surreptitiously learned to forge the signatures of my parents on bank checks while they were abroad. We were soon to run out of checks (and funds) they had prepared for their departure. So, in 1973, at the age of 12, I became an amateur forger.
“I was 14 when I stumbled upon two books on graphology, the study of handwriting, in our high school library. I pored over them assiduously, reviewing the concepts like I was learning to decode a new and hidden language. Eventually I forgot my facility for graphology until four years after, while in university. On a number of occasions, I would bring friends together to share brief, anecdotal readings of their natures as revealed by their signatures. My reputation among friends found its way to other people. At home, my family found my readings insightful and generally accurate.”
In 1985 and ‘86, Miñana traveled extensively in Europe and the US, analyzing hundreds of signatures, letters and manuscripts from friends and fellow travelers. “I realized I had the talent for telling the abridged life stories of my unsuspecting subjects.”
Miñana adds, “In 1985 I took to photography like a fish to water, eventually having two solo exhibits depicting images of my travels, with the kind support of friends like Jaime Zobel and Rudy de Leon.”
His career as an architect began and he worked briefly with architect Gabby Formoso as an apprentice while he was still in school. Today, Miñana’s firm, EA Miñana & Associates, Architects, continues to create residential and commercial projects around the country and in some cities abroad (www.eaminanaarchitects.com).
Miñana is married to photographer Denise Weldon and they have two children.
The Yuchengco Museum is located at RCBC Plaza on Ayala and Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Makati. For inquiries, call 889-1234.
