WAWI NAVARROZA *official*news*and*archive*: 2005-06-26

About Me

Name: Magus, The Librarian

Location: Manila, Philippines

Ms. WAWI NAVARROZA is a Manila-based photographer/visual poet. She holds a degree in Bachelor of Arts Major in Communication Arts with a specialization in Photography from De La Salle University, Manila, mentored by the artist/curator Judy Sibayan. She has been awarded in both local and international contests for her works in portraiture and fine art photography. Among these were awards in photography from AAP (Art Association of the Philippines) in 2001 and 2003, and prize winner for "Con Otros Ojos" photography contest in Barcelona, Spain 2000. Recently, she has succesfully mounted her first solo exhibit entitled "Polysaccharide: The Dollhouse Drama". She is currently at work on a documentary portraiture project involving a distinct filipino minority. In between, she regularly contributes fashion editorial photography, concept art direction, and feature writing for various magazines and periodicals. She also sings for a unique rock band called The Late Isabel and simultaneously entertains other forms of art as part of her many creative expressions. She lives beside the lake and collects hats and cat figurines.

Monday, June 27, 2005

THE MANILA TIMES June 27, 2005 Culture Vulture feature story: WAWI NAVARROZA

On The Manila Times, Life & Times section, Culture Vulture column, June 27, 2005:

Minuet Nocturne of the Sandwoman
by Rome Jorge

EXCERPTS:

"Her photographs capture the play of her fingers within the darkroom as they record the Gothic dreams inside her head. As she delves into Jungian symbolism, Freudian psychology and Surrealist thought, she also explores distressed imagery and film photography techniques. She is Wawi Navarroza, crafter of dream images, Sandwoman."

"As young as she at the age of 25, Navarroza is innovating on a creative process soon to be extinct. While the immediacy and economy of digital photography is fast making film use all but a Luddite’s pastime, the lady hones a hand for manipulating negatives and prints in the darkroom. Her images not only record her vision, they also capture the dance of her hands across photo papers awash in developer chemicals. She is pushing the envelope on dark room magic just as the curtains are drawing on this centuries-old technology."

"Her images are highly narrative. Just as a writer can craft a single verse that begs us to imagine whole chapters faming it, her images evoke stories in the mind’s eye that lead to and lead from that one captured moment."

- Rome Jorge
June 27, 2005, The Manila Times