The fifth iteration of Descendants, a queer art exhibition featuring artists from the Visayas and beyond, will open today, October 2, at the Jose T. Joya Gallery of the University of the Philippines Cebu.
Titled “Archives of Feelings,” the exhibition invites artists to explore how queer Filipino histories are preserved when they are absent from official records and traditional archives.
The exhibition draws from scholar Ann Cvetkovich’s concept of the “archive of feelings,” which recognizes memory, emotion, performance, gesture, trauma, oral history, and personal objects as forms of historical record.
“For Descendants, artworks are not illustrations of history, they are the archive,” according to the gallery’s exhibition description.
Photographs, diaries, drag performances, tattoos, scars, shared meals, and family stories can carry traces of histories that may otherwise remain undocumented.
The exhibition also aims to bring together queer artists in the Visayas “to address the need for representation and visibility of experiences and identities that have historically been marginalized in Philippine art,” according to the gallery’s description.
Through painting, video, textile, performance, and other artistic forms, participating artists give tangible form to obscured experiences of Filipino queer individuals and contribute to a broader understanding of their place in Philippine history and culture.
Descendants was first staged in 2019 at Frida Gallery in Bacolod City. It was conceived by artist Ginoe and artist-curator Asst. Prof. Jay Nathan Jore.
Since its first staging, Descendants has provided a platform for Filipino artists to articulate personal narratives and perspectives shaped by their experiences of queerness.
It will be open to the public until October 20, 2026.
‘Descendants V’ opens tonight at Joya Gallery
