#CulturePH - Turning Perspectives Into Possibilities: How MADE 2026 Awardees Are Shaping Philippine Art’s Next Chapter
Walk into a gallery and pause in front of a piece that makes you tilt your head, linger longer, and ask questions you didn’t expect. That’s the kind of encounter the Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE) 2026 awardees are inviting us into—a space where art isn’t just seen, but felt, wrestled with, and carried beyond the walls of the exhibition.
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This year, over 600 submissions poured in from artists across the country, reflecting the diversity and vitality of the Philippine art community. From oil on canvas to mixed media and sculpture, the winning works transformed themes of power, perseverance, and human connection into reflections that challenge us to see familiar realities differently.
Take Vince Martin A. Macatangay’s Sonder: Sa Bawat Mundong ‘Di Ko Matahak. The painting asks viewers to consider the lives they’ll never fully know—the strangers who move past us daily, each carrying a world as vivid and complex as our own. Distorted figures and layered movements evoke countless stories unfolding simultaneously, reminding us that we are never just background characters in someone else’s narrative.
Kennette A. Luague’s Taya (Bet), which won the Grand Award for Mixed Media, draws from the lives of workers who gamble daily for their families’ futures. Using simple materials like wood and billiard cloth, Luague captures resilience not as victory, but as the courage to keep moving forward despite chaos. It’s a tribute to perseverance, and a reminder that hope often burns brightest in the most ordinary struggles.
Meanwhile, Aldrin B. Olaguir’s sculpture Hinahalal, Binabanal (The Chosen, the Sanctified) unsettles by transforming a familiar religious object—the holy water font—into a symbol of power and corruption. With a crocodile figure looming behind hardened formations, the work questions how choices repeated over time can become normalized, even sanctified. It’s a piece that forces us to confront what we’ve come to accept as “necessary evils.”
Together, these works embody the spirit of TRAVERSE: Creativity in Motion, the theme of this year’s competition. They show how artists move through observation, experience, and inquiry to create works that don’t just reflect society, but challenge it. They invite dialogue, connection, and deeper understanding.
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The awardees were recognized at The Metropolitan Museum of Manila on September 17, marking the opening of the MADE 2026 exhibition. Nearly 100 semifinalist works are on display until October 18, offering audiences a chance to see the breadth of creativity shaping contemporary Philippine art.
For the artists, recognition comes with more than prestige. Grand awardees received ₱500,000 in prizes, including scholarships to the Eskinita Art Residency Program in 2027, while Special Citation recipients were awarded ₱100,000 each. But beyond the financial support, MADE provides something equally vital: a community where artists can exchange ideas, pursue sustainable careers, and stay true to their vision.
As Metrobank Foundation President Philip Francisco U. Dy noted, these works remind us that Filipino artists continue to engage deeply with the world around them, offering fresh perspectives to the conversations shaping our society. And perhaps that’s the enduring power of MADE—it doesn’t just honor art, it honors the act of seeing differently, of turning perspectives into possibilities.
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