Avant garde footwear designer and art provocateur Joel Wijangco unveiled his latest exhibit yesterday at the Yuchengco Museum, blurring the line between fashion, sculpture, and social commentary.
The exhibit showcases over 25 pieces of handcrafted shoes, each one acting as a sculptural narrative. From Bo-ho (Body Horror), a twisted stiletto exploring body dysmorphia, to Palengkera No. 1, inspired by the fishwife Amazons of Malabon’s wet markets, Wijangco’s work straddles art, fashion, and emotional archaeology.
“I design shoes the way some people write memoirs,” says Wijangco. “Each pair is a story…. sometimes mine, sometimes borrowed, always intimate and strange.”
Exhibit highlights include:
- Sister’s Favorite, a noodle-inspired heel made during his sister’s breast cancer journey
- Bond(age), an ox-red stiletto with six buckles and a golden halo, satirizing the trap of lifelong commitment
- Osuang, a Gothic heel born from colonial anxieties around Filipina sensuality, reimagined for tropical vampires
- Fitting ni Sioning, based on a shoe fitting with his grandmother, who revealed a tenderness hidden behind decades of sharpness
Blending surrealism, pop culture, Filipino folklore, and personal memory, Joel Wijangco’s work playfully interrogates identity, memory, and the absurdities of beauty. The exhibit runs through October 15, 2025.
The exhibit at Yuchengco Museum, G/F RCBC Plaza, Makati City, is ongoing until October 15. Admission is free. For more information, visit https://yuchengcomuseum.org/art_exhibit/art2wear-steve-de-leon-and-joel-wijangco/
