26 October 2024 - 8 January 2025. Echoes of a Silent Future. Edoweird, Quezon City, Philippines.

Courtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Matt Trinidad.

From his recent solo exhibition Echoes Of A Silent Future at Edoweird (MNL), Miguel Aquilizan’s monumental sculpture takes the center stage - a subversion of the classical sculpture called The Dying Gaul.

The Dying Gaul was commissioned at around 220 BC by Attalus I, who ruled Pergamon. The artist is said to be Epigonus, a court sculptor. The Dying Gaul celebrated Roman dominion through the display of a Gaul in defeat. Miguel’s Dreaming Gaul on the other hand is an act of reclamation: as if the Gaul made a self portrait.

Rather than capitulating, the defeated Gaul envisions a future where beheading signifies not an end, but a rebirth, embodying a resolute desire to return to their homeland. Coming from a family of artists known to respond and to adapt to migration, Miguel in particular reacts to his displacement, as a Filipino raised individual who migrated in 2006. Miguel draws parallels between his own experiences and those of the Gaul, sharing a common aspiration to reclaim a sense of home, even if that place has transformed beyond recognition.