Great women, through time, have helped others become great, bringing their own special power to birth children and innovations, teach, nurture, and develop a whole new generation. Great women are intrinsic to the very fiber of community and society. To mark Women’s Month this March, the Yuchengco Museum is presenting a special project called the Great Women, a showcase of product and design development of lifestyle products by women designers.
Great Women exhibit
The highlight of the museum’s celebration of Women’s Month is Great Women: Women Helping Women Up the Value Chain, a showcase of product and packaging design of community-created food products, as well as lifestyle products especially made by women designers who were part of the Great Women Project, a nationwide development plan by ECHOsi Foundation (the nonprofit development arm of retailer ECHOstore Sustainable Lifestyle), the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to help women microentrepreneurs from across the Philippines. The designer showcase includes works by community women with fashion designer Lulu Tan-Gan, product designer and paper artist Tes Pasola, jewelry, home accessories, and furniture designer Ann Pamintuan, fashion designer Lenora Cabili of Filip + Inna, museum curator and artist Jeannie Javelosa, merchandiser and product developer Rambie Lim of Rurungan sa Tubod Foundation, bag designer Renee Patron, jewelry designer Sen Sanchez, and food and product developers Reena Francisco, Zarah Juan, and Lingling King.
Faces of the archipelago exhibit
In line with the Great Women exhibit, Canadian photographer Luke Myers will present Faces of the Archipelago, a portfolio of images of Filipino women taken during his travels around the Philippines. Currently based in the Philippines working with CIDA of the Government of Canada, Myers has specially selected photographs he has taken during his development trips around the country. His Women of the Archipelago series attempts to present examples of the wide diversity of cultures, with a focus on women of all ages that coexist peacefully across the more than 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines.
