Pio Abad’s “Fear of Freedom Makes Us See Ghosts”: Book Launch & Conversation

Join us for the book launch of Pio Abad’s “Fear of Freedom Makes Us See Ghosts” to be followed by a conversation with Smile Indias, on January 18 (Saturday), 2:00 pm at the Ben Chan ArtSuite, 2F Ateneo Art Gallery, Soledad V Pangilinan Arts Wing, Areté, Ateneo de Manila University.

This program is free and open to the public. Register now at http://go.ateneo.net/PioAbadBookLaunch

“The Collection of Jane Ryan & William Saunders” is a ten-year project that has traced the material hauntings of the Philippines’ dictatorial Marcos family. Employing a wide variety of media, from the more traditional forms of painting and photography to new innovations such as 3D printed sculpture and augmented reality, Abad has depicted the history of the Marcos dictatorship as a past that urgently needs to be made present. Beginning in 2012, The Collection of Jane Ryan & William Saunders culminated in 2022 with the exhibition, Fear of Freedom Makes Us See Ghosts, at the Ateneo Art Gallery in Manila.

Co-published by the Ateneo Art Gallery and Hato Press, “Fear of Freedom Makes Us See Ghosts” is an accompanying and comprehensive publication featuring three essays by curators and art historians, Kathleen Ditzig, Katy Wan, and Marian Pastor Roces, that present new contributions to the scholarship of Abad’s work, as well as an interview with Philippine popular historian Ambeth Ocampo and the most complete visual account of the Marcoses’ plunder.

The book is currently available for purchase at the Ateneo Art Gallery Museum Shop for Php 2,000.

The virtual tour of the exhibition “Pio Abad: Fear of Freedom Makes Us See Ghosts” is also available for viewing at https://ateneoartgallery.com/tours/fear-of-freedom-makes-us-see-ghosts. For inquiries, email aag@ateneo.edu