2007 / Intermedia (acrylic on canvas painting, epoxy, video, found chairs) / Artist: Marina Cruz / Painting in private collection; sculpture and video in artist’s collection

Marina Cruz invokes the memory of her mother’s twin sister through an installation titled Laura-in-Absentia. In completing the work, the artist referred to personal keepsakes: an aunt’s class photograph taken on her first stint as a young assistant teacher in the 1970s; and her lace dress, which becomes the basis of a sculpture. This work was first presented in the Second Dumaguete Terracotta Biennale as part of the Tampo Lampuk exhibition in 2007.

Set within the premises of the Foundation University, Cruz assembles a classroom environment. Hanging on one wall is a sepia-toned acrylic painting depicting Laura in class. She is caught in the moment of teaching, her mouth slightly open and her forearms upraised with a puppet on each hand. The young students focus their attention on the teacher, their backs turned away from the viewers. The dress worn by Laura in the painting is also recreated as sculpture. Made with epoxy layered with polychrome paint, the form appears hollow yet is sturdy, with the surface made sensuous through its visual and tactile effects. The artist first practiced casting pliable material as part of her undergraduate thesis at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. Over the following years, she developed the technique in succeeding works, progressively working with this material. The sculpture’s exterior reveals the intricacy of the lace as its impression is cast from the armature of the dress. The figure’s posture approximates a teacher’s stance: arms raised like a conductor addressing a chorale, leading them in unison and inspiring its members to act.

Cruz heightened the simulation of the experience by arranging found chairs in the university, as they would appear in a classroom. She used black cloth to form an enclosure where images are projected. The transitioning pictures trace the cycle of appearance, loss, and eventual reappearance of each student, a reference to the routinary attendance checks done by teachers. The element of time is a crucial aspect in this installation. The fleeting images intimate a sense of impermanence and the urgency of time’s passing.

Laura-in-Absentia is Cruz’s memory work. It incited a dialogue with the exhibition site at Museo Vicente, an institution that attempts to remember in perpetuity an influential teacher-administrator in the person of Vicente Sinco. On a subjective level, Laura-in-Absentia is the artist’s gesture of homage to her kin of women educators who have largely shaped her vision in art and in life.