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On the 10th year of the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism, we invite entries that expound on the theme “Risk.” Essays should be anchored as critiques about artists, art works, exhibitions, projects, or art events that reflect on risk, construed broadly. Risk calls to mind danger or peril. On the other hand, risk also alludes to possibility. We try, take our chances, and persist in the hope of effecting great change.
The theme is resonant to the efforts of Art Association of the Philippines founder Purita Kalaw-Ledesma who averred that art criticism is vital to the development of art movements. She believed in the urgency and agency of criticism. The title of her 1974 book is telling: the story of Philippine art was composed a “struggle,” assuming an active stance and evoking the push and pull of forces to make things happen. In the foreword of the inaugural art criticism competition organized by the Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation in the nineties, Purita fondly remembers her father, the journalist, historian and public servant Teodoro M. Kalaw. As editor of the nationalist paper El Renacimiento, he was implicated in a libel case filed by the American colonial official Dean Conant Worcester for the article “Birds of Prey” which the latter felt had referred to him. In view of her father’s occupational hazard, Purita wrote that it was “in the defense of the Filipino rights and advocacy of the Filipino cause that he used his pen.” Risk may well be about purpose or resolve, prompting us to think about who we write for, why we write, or more profoundly, why we do the things that we do; enabling us to widen our perspective and propelling us to act in astonishing ways.
The Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism will have English and Filipino categories. A panel of jurors will shortlist a maximum of six (6) writers from each category. From these lists, winners will be selected by the editors of the partner publications. Winners will be announced during the awarding ceremony scheduled in September 2023.
Two winners will be selected from the English category. The winner of the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for The Philippine Star will be awarded a regular column under ‘Platforms’ in the Arts and Culture section of the paper, to be published once a month with a total of 12 articles for a year. The winner of the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for ArtAsiaPacific will be contributing to this bi-monthly publication, with a total of six (6) articles for a year.
One winner selected from the Filipino category will be awarded the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Katipunan and will be contributing to this bi-annual research publication, with a total of two (2) articles for a year.
In addition to the opportunity to have their written works published, one of the winners will be selected and offered a month-long writer’s residency with one of AAG’s local residency partners. The residency will give the winning writer an opportunity to immerse and interact with local art communities.
The Ateneo Art Awards-Purita Kalaw-Ledesma (PKL) Prizes for Art Criticism was launched in 2014 by Ateneo Art Gallery and Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Inc. (KLFI). It was named in honor of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, art patron and founder of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP). Purita believed in art criticism’s “vital role in the development of culture,” citing its capacity to “guide both artists towards new directions and public taste towards the best in past and current artistic output.”
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Jayvee del Rosario is a political science major from the Ateneo de Manila University who is passionate about art and journalism. He served as the Associate Art Editor of Heights, the official literary and artistic folio of the Ateneo, and has written for The GUIDON and the Ateneo Assembly, the University's official student publication and political organization, respectively. He wishes to bridge his two passions and foster art education in the Philippines through accessible yet critical art journalism.
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Fabian dela Rosa, Portrait of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, Oil on Canvas | 1932