Moreen Austria donated her work “The Teller of Tales,”  a metal chair sculpture with a brass mask, to the University of the Philippines Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage (UPV MACH).

The artwork is now part of the Lúbiok Hiligaynon Art exhibition at the Taliambong UPV Art Gallery, together with the works of various Western Visayas artists that show the development of art in the region.

The work “The Teller of Tales” has been with the old UPV Art Gallery since 2016 during the Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibit Conference (VIVA ExCon) and was ceded on April 14, 2023, through a signed Deed of Donation by the artist, who is also a UPV alumna.

Moreen Austria (b:07.12.1975), or Mox within the artists’ circle, is a Negros-based artist who completed BS Management at UP Visayas in 1996 and has a post-graduate degree in Business Administration from the University of St. La Salle Bacolod in 2006.

Quick background of Moreen Austria

Her works are described as a cross between sculptures, paintings, and installations, navigating the layers of self, relationships, and society, seeking identity and spaces of articulation and expression.

Austria finds the physical nature of working with metal sculptures as therapeutic, and she discovered satisfaction in working with concepts, community, and collaborative projects with local literature and contemporary dance.

Also see the work of Moreen Austria in KASIKAS at Hanas Gallery-UPV MACH

Her exhibition grant, Lawig, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2016, which probed the peculiar socio-cultural relationship of the neighboring islands she grew up on and spent significant time between, awakened a sensibility to her locality. She began exploring community-engaged art projects.

In 2017, her work De-ling, which spoke of the emphasis on social status and religion of the 1950s Negrense dogma that shaped the local society, became the first contemporary full-length ballet in the Visayas based on a sculptural installation.

Likewise, in 2017, Austria won the Grand Award for Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) for Sculpture Recognition, which opened opportunities for ongoing public art projects.

Sources: 

1. Quick background is sourced from orangeproject.ph. Click here to go to the source: Profile of Moreen Austria and background
2. Press release of UPV-OICA including content photos.