Pio Abad

London

The Manila-born, London-based artist Pio Abad is perhaps best known for ‘The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders’ – a 10-year artist project delving into the legacy of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines – which takes its name from the false identities used by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos to stash their ill-gotten gains in Swiss bank accounts. Abad’s research into the Marcos era has involved an ever-growing inventory of objects associated both with the Marcoses (from jewellery to Old Master paintings), as well as with those affected by their corruption. These appear in installations and exhibitions alongside Abad’s own textiles, drawings and photographs. The project has culminated this year in a major solo exhibition, ‘Fear of Freedom Makes Us See Ghosts’, held at the Ateneo Art Gallery in Quezon City, just outside Manila. His work has also been shown internationally in galleries and institutions in San Francisco, Ontario, Sydney, London, Tokyo and Dubai. This year, he is participating in the 58th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh and the Kochi-Muziris Bienniale in Kerala.