Covers of the 90s
The following magazines were liberated from the storage room by Emen Batocabe (current artist-in-residence), during the same trip from which Mariah Reodica collected several button-downs for her project(s). Now occupying a corner of a table top in the studio, among Emen's drawing implements, these reading materials await their next incarnation.
In truth, the magazines were chosen because they were the most accessible. These issues were on the top of the dusty stacks, which sat on the floor against the wall, partly obstructed by clear bags containing papers and rice sacks filled with objects not yet known.
Even at a quarter of a century old or older, spared from the trash, saved from water damage, termites and other threats to paper, these reading materials have aged remarkably well.
Why were these magazines saved and for whom? Mostly issues of Asiaweek, the covers encapsulate the concerns of the time - influx in the economy, volatile political landscape, environmental issues, technology and the implications of the digital age - spurred by fears for what it all means for the future.
Encountering these modern relics after so much time has lapsed, I was surprised by the still relevant headlines. The questions remain unanswered, the concerns ever more pressing, and the future is as distant and uncertain as ever before.
Emen Batocabe and his works will be featured in an upcoming artist profile to be posted at the end of his residency.
