Exhibitions

The past never vanishes. It lingers, hovering like an afterimage in the mind, waiting for the eye to settle on a familiar silhouette. It does not always announce itself in monuments or textbooks. More often, it lingers in the rhythms of everyday life¬––a jeepney cresting the avenue, the solemn stance of a farmer against the midday sun, a cluster of women balancing woven baskets on their heads. These are not just moments frozen in time; they are specters of a life once lived, haunting the present with their quiet persistence.

For Almer Moneda, “Vestigial Histories” is a testament to these quiet, enduring moments. His works serve as windows into the country’s collective memory, where history is not merely recorded but lived, not just documented but felt. Through a striking interplay of chiaroscuro and subdued tonal fields, Moneda excavates the poetry of the quotidian, revealing the weight of time in the postures of ordinary Filipinos—their labor, their leisure, their waiting.

What Moneda offers is not mere nostalgia but a reckoning. His brushstrokes, deliberate yet restless, remind us that to remember is an act of resistance against erasure. In capturing these vignettes of daily life, he confronts us with a truth often overlooked: history is not only written in grand narratives but also in the hands that shape the land, in the feet that traverse cracked pavements, in the silence between words spoken across generations. These are histories written in the hum of daily life. And yet, there is resistance in these images—a defiance against oblivion. The color fields Moneda employs, muted and deliberate, frame each moment as something to be examined, as though to say: Look closer. This was real. This still is.

In “Vestigial Histories”, the past is not distant—it is here, humming beneath the surface of the present, waiting for us to look closely, to remember.

About Almer Moneda

Born in 1987, Almer Moneda is a Filipino contemporary artist based in Southern Luzon, Philippines. With a background in drafting from Laguna State Polytechnic University, Moneda possesses a keen understanding of structure and composition, which informs his distinct visual language. His works navigate the intersections of history, memory, and everyday Filipino life, capturing the vestiges of the past that continue to shape the present. Through a masterful blend of realism and nostalgia, Moneda reconstructs scenes of quotidian existence—public spaces, shared rituals, and the quiet resilience of the Filipino spirit. His paintings serve as both documentation and meditation, inviting viewers to engage with history not as something distant but as something alive and present.

“Vestigial Histories” will run from March 23 to April 1, 2025 with an Artist Reception on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at Galerie Joaquin Podium. the 3rd Level, The Podium, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City.

For more information, contact +63 926 722 7925, or email podium.galeriejoaquin@gmail.com.