The first time I met Olivia d’Aboville, we were standing beside a man with a painted face who was being buried in the ground up to his neck. It was at Mount Malasimbo and the man was a performance artist who called his piece “Please Don’t Feed the Natives.” All around there were sculptures, installation pieces and other, more traditional works of art. Later on, audiences enjoyed the musical performances that have become the signature Malasimbo festival experience.
D’Aboville has been surrounded by artistry and creativity for a good chunk of her life and has become such a fixture of the local art scene that it’s difficult to imagine her now involved with anything else. Still the 32-year-old can remember a time when she felt the pull of science rather than art.
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
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“I didn’t necessarily want to be a professional artist, but (I wanted to be involved) in the arts—architecture, design, or something creative,” she tellsEsquire Philippines. “But at a certain point I was also interested in biology. I don’t know, I was a bit torn but the arts definitely called me.”
And as anyone who’s ever had the privilege of knowing her or her work over the years can attest, art won out. After the half-French, half-Filipina d’Aboville pursued and completed a degree in textile design at the prestigious École Duperré in 2009, she gave herself one year to explore opportunities and figure out if it was a viable career option for her. She had her first show at the Ayala Museum before her self-imposed deadline and she’s never looked back since.
Nature as inspiration
Much has been written about that first show and how D’Aboville drew inspiration from nature, specifically the oceans, to craft sea creatures out of plastic waste. It wasn’t entirely a surprise, given how she spent many of her growing-up years near the sea in Puerto Galera.
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“My message was pretty literal, going full cycle using these elements that would pollute the environment and transforming them into something and giving them new life,” she says. “So I really started with that theme. It was at the core of what I was trying to do.”
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
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D’Aboville says she eventually opened up and explored other avenues of expression, particularly textiles and traditional Filipino weaves, although nature was always a looming influence. This month, she goes back to her roots for a special exhibition at the 2019 edition of Art Fair Philippines.
“I think we’re all free to do whatever we want (for the Art Fair),” she says. “It’s the best feeling but also a scary thing because it’s all on you. When it’s good, that’s great but when it’s bad you know…” she trails off. With a shrug and a smile. “They give us a lot of freedom and liberty and trust.”
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Out of her comfort zone
Her presentation for the Art Fair started when she got the invitation in August last year. She had been thinking about going back and putting the environment at the forefront of her work, especially now that the issue is grabbing headlines and there’s an almost palpable sense of urgency.
“It’s really a conversation that everyone’s interested in now,” she says. “Everybody’s ready to listen and act.”
There was a short period when she didn’t hear back from the organizers that d’Aboville considered going back to textiles, which she calls her comfort zone, having immersed herself in it for the past four years.
“I either use silk from Palawan, which is handwoven and hand-dyed, or abaca polyester from Cebu,” she says. “There are still so many forms to explore, maybe more extravagant forms rather than when I have a commission that, of course, has to be wall bound and pretty. There are lots of ways to use that material because the potential is huge.”
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PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
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But a conversation with master photographer Neal Oshima set her back on her initial path of re-interpreting her plastics-as-the-scourge-of-the-environment concept.
“(Neal Oshima) was talking to me about this possible collaboration we could have also during the Art Fair but in the public places,” d'Aboville says. “He was also talking about plastic pollution so I was like, ‘Oh I really have to go back to my initial concept.’ This gave me that confidence in choosing that theme again. So not only am I working on that for my personal space, but will also have two installations outside of the walls of the Art Fair.”
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Art Fair Philippines 2019, scheduled from February 22 to 24 still at The Link car park in Makati City, is the seventh edition of the annual event. D’Aboville understands how it can be an excellent opportunity to reach more people and convey an important message about the world we live in, how we’re contributing to its demise, and what we can do to preserve it.
Everything is linked
D’Aboville’s story sounds like a fairy tale story, if there ever was one—set your mind and heart on something and, with a little luck and lots of talent, achieve all your dreams. But for every success story of an artist exhibiting at museums and being paid a handsome sum for commissioned work, there are countless others of those who are forced to abandon their passions to find work that pays enough to put food on the table. The image of the starving artist is all too real and one that d’Aboville herself acknowledges.
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“Even myself, a couple of years ago I did a few things—I did home décor, accessories, textile, lighting, so it wasn’t just sculptures or arts. These led me to meet many different people that, in turn, led to many opportunities and opened up many possibilities. I think that’s what young creatives need to explore—to be open-minded and to be interested in different disciplines. At the endeverything, is kind of linked together, and one idea will feed another idea. So that’s how you can bounce and evolve.”
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Outside of art, d’Aboville lights up when talk turns towards her family. She is married to Miro Grgich, who 10 years ago dreamed up the Malasimbo Festival—a multi-day music and arts festival in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.
“At the time, we had no international music festivals yet,” she says. “These musicians need a platform. (My husband) imagined this festival in Puerto Galera in collaboration with my father who owns a beautiful piece of land there and that’s where we held Malasimbo for the last eight years.”
This year, the husband-and-wife team and the rest of the organizers are switching it up and changing venues for the first time since the festival started.
“We’re moving towards the beach, but not actually on the sand. Just a bit behind. We’re still in complete nature; it’s in a reserve, a really protected area. It’s a beautiful jungle and the backdrop is the actual Mount Malasimbo. We’re very excited.”
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Creating the future
Together, d’Aboville and Grgich are the parents of little Leo, who just turned three years old and is already showing artistic inclinations. She says Leo got into drumming when he was two years old.
“We have footage of him at Malasimbo and he was so cute,” says the proud mom. “But now he’s into football.”
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
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Further into the future, d’Aboville says whatever she becomes involved in, she hopes she can still continue her advocacy of helping preserve the planet's oceans and seas. She has ideas—maybe in Puerto Galera; maybe related to coral preservation because there’s an opportunity there to be creative; maybe an artificial reef based on sculptures at first and then letting nature slowly take over.
“Either that or collecting plastic and transforming it to something new,” she says.
It’s the mind of an artist at work and it’s a beautiful thing to witness.
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In this story: Produced by Clifford Olanday • Photographs Artu Nepomuceno • Styling by Meg Manzano • Hair and makeup by Don de Jesus with Al de Leon • Production assistant Elyssa Christine Lopez • Photography assistant JT Fernandez and Ignacio Gador • Styling assistant Katrina Pascuall • With thanks to Discovery Primea
From topmost: Oversized coat by Joey Samson at Comme Ci, Rockwell, and trousers by Anika; suit jacket by Dona Lim Silk and corset bra by Eairth; vest by Joey Samson at Comme Ci, Rockwell, and jumpsuit by Dona Lim.
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