The exhibit is open until August 31.
Places that once played a role in Philippine history are getting a second look through “Katha,” visual artist Nic Navarro’s latest exhibition at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Gallery in Intramuros.
Navarro’s paintings revisit neglected and lesser-known sites, including Pio Valenzuela’s house, which served as a printing site for “Ang Kalayaan” during the Spanish colonial period, and Panciteria Macanista de Buen Gusto, a Manila establishment mentioned in Jose Rizal’s “El Filibusterismo.”
The works explore what happens when time, development, and changing cityscapes push once-significant places out of sight—and eventually out of memory.
There’s something poetic about the venue, too. Intramuros, the historic Walled City, is itself a living reminder of the country’s past—even as many other heritage sites have faded from memory.
Navarro said he was inspired by how time can alter and diminish significant properties amid commercial expansion, leaving behind scattered pieces of the history that helped build the nation.
“Katha” was developed with exhibit writer Kaye O’yek, curator Philip Paraan, landscape artist Alan Tan, production designer Ohm David and artist Telle de Leon.
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Paraan noted that his years working in cultural heritage preservation drew him to the project. “I am particularly drawn to the intersections of history and art, and to the ways in which these encounters can generate new perspectives, contemporary concerns, and ways of thinking about the past,” he said.
He said he and Navarro shared similar sensibilities and interests, which helped bring the project together.
“My role was less about shaping his ideas, which were already well defined, and more about sharpening and refining them as they translated into paintings and, ultimately, into a cohesive exhibition and presentation,” Paraan added.
Through “Katha,” Navarro turns these overlooked places into subjects worth stopping for again—not simply as relics of the past, but as reminders of the stories embedded in the spaces around us.
“Katha” runs until Aug. 31.
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