WHILE it is easy to find oneself overwhelmed by the perpetual dance of stimuli that fills the world today, photographer Denise Weldon finds it is useful to be guided by light, to be able to zero in on the rare sense of quiet and grace that can often emerge from the shadows.
Be it the play of light from windows onto a plain floor, the curl of a lotus leaf under the rays of the sun, or the contrast of candle fire on a dark wall, Ms. Weldon’s photography seeks to illuminate the quiet power of objects and places we encounter every day. In the monochrome stillness of her photos, she unveils something very spiritual and almost magical, even.
“You have to ask yourself, ‘What do I need to see today?’ and discern what exactly it is. You don’t always hit the target, and maybe you end up thinking too much. It’s all about trusting your eyes and being moved by what you see,” said Ms. Weldon, whose work has been put together in a curated survey of her 30-year photographic journey.
Titled Witness of the Quiet, the exhibit was curated by art consultant Miguel Rosales of Caramel Art Advisory. The photographs, ranging from portraiture to landscape to still life, are laid out meticulously across the Yuchengco Museum’s fourth-floor gallery, on view for the entirety of March. The chosen works speak to “cycles of birth and rebirth, light and dark, the young and the mature,” Ms. Weldon said.
With the mindset that all spaces are studios and that all subjects are teachers, the images of people, places, and things that are captured bring forth a sort of visual calm. However, putting all of it together was anything but, requiring intense collaboration.
“Jeannie Javalosa (director of the Yuchengco Museum) texted me that the space opened up for the months of February and March, asking me if I wanted to have a show there, and that she wanted to move the museum in a new direction and integrate photography in the gallery more. I said sure, without thinking,” said Ms. Weldon.
And so, with the help of Mr. Rosales on the curation and Bam Laurel of Fluid for graphic design, they distilled many of her exhibitions over the years into a survey. The overarching theme of Witness of the Quiet emerged naturally.
“It was a common thread we saw, regardless of the individual themed exhibits,” she explained. The space itself was also maximized, from the inside of the elevator to stepping out into the fourth floor.
Ms. Weldon also spokeof the relevance of having the show during Arts Month in February and Women’s Month in March.
“Everything just aligned for that to happen,” she said. “As a woman, you wear many hats with each role that you play — the responsibility of being a wife and a mother, and of doing your work.”
When asked what she saw upon seeing the survey in full, she said that it showed that precarious balance that had to be developed over the years: “The work reflected how I quietly showed up in all areas. Finding balance was an important key.” For her, this was achieved through her spirituality, namely her devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, though the answer is different for each person.
There’s much to reflect on in the black-and-white images, gentle glimpses of a spiral staircase illuminated by the light above or the shriveled-up heart of a tree evoking the textures of aging. The meditative self-inquiry that Ms. Weldon invites through her photography is the essence that she hopes viewers will take home.
This serene approach to viewing life was something the photographer taught for an afternoon at the start of March, at the very space in the museum where her works are exhibited. Aside from guiding guests through the various photographs, Ms. Weldon led a meditative experience, an event which will likely be replicated before the exhibit ends.
“I see the beauty in the chaos all the time. I think it’s not so much a romantic perspective, but a reminder of what is there that we are forgetting to look at, to listen to, to feel,” she said.
Witness of the Quiet is on view at the fourth-floor photography gallery of Yuchengco Museum at the RCBC Plaza, Ayala corner Gil Puyat Aves, in Makati City until March 31. For more details on the exhibit and events related to it, visit the museum’s Facebook and Instagram pages. — Brontë H. Lacsamana