Nune Alvarado exhibition to explore inequality and Filipino workers’ lives
More than 40 works will feature in “Okasyon”, opening on November 20 at Art Elaan in Ayala Malls Manila Bay.
An exhibition of more than 40 artworks by Nunelucio “Nune” Alvarado, newly proclaimed National Artist for Visual Arts, will examine Filipino life and workers’ struggles. “Okasyon” opens at 6 p.m. on November 20 and continues until December 15, 2026.
The venue is Art Elaan, located on level two of Ayala Malls Manila Bay. The show takes its title from a painting Alvarado completed in 2004, an oil on canvas measuring 40 by 60 inches.
That work portrays a Spanish colonial-era hacienda celebration, with plantation labourers known as sakadas preparing and serving food at a landowner’s home. Two workers bring a roasted pig to the banquet table, with a dog waiting below for scraps.
The painting contrasts the landowners’ enjoyment with the exclusion of those preparing their feast. Its focus on inequality and labour reflects subjects that recur across Alvarado’s work, which uses scenes of daily life to examine human dignity and the experiences of ordinary Filipinos.
