FACULTY
TERESITA ARGUZON-AQUINO
TERESITA ARGUZON-AQUINO is a designer and a printmaker. Her specialization is graphic design and has been teaching part-time in De La Salle College of Saint Benilde since 2008. She also taught in St. Scholastica’s College under the Fine Arts Department as well as Southville International School under the Multimedia Department. She has worked for the toy, automotive, advertising, publishing, and multimedia arts industry for more than 10 years before becoming an independent design consultant. As the Marketing Communications Head of the National Council of Industrial Designers, she was able to successfully lead the launch of the first ever Philippine celebration of World Industrial Design Day (6.29 WIDD) back in 2012. Ms. Melai is a graduate of BS Industrial Design from CSB and has a Master’s Degree in Marketing Communications from DLSU. She studied film directing in Mowelfund Film Institute and is a member of the Association of Pinoyprintmakers.
LOVE C. ASIS
LOVE C. ASIS graduated from Philippine Women’s University (PWU), Taft Manila, with a Master of Arts in Fine Arts and Design (2015). She is continuing her research on the history of animation and its current state, and she was able to present another paper at the De La Salle University Arts Congress (DAC) in February 2017 at the De La Salle Taft Campus, titled The Perforation in Philippine Animation Industry: Original Content Full Length Animated Films. Her animation abilities led her to work in various multimedia and animation fields, including visual effects for local and international TV advertisements, dramas, audio-visual presentations, films, and asset production. She is currently teaching animation, multimedia, and film in various animation/art-related courses at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and game design art at De La Salle University and TESDA accredited training centers.
MELANIE S. BOTOR
MELANIE S. BOTOR is a licensed interior designer who has worked on various government projects to improve the quality of products through design. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Interior Design degree from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Interior Design in the same university. She designs for furniture and construction companies that specialize in retail fit-outs in different malls throughout the Philippines. She has been an exhibition designer for the Product Development and Design Center of the Philippines and is a member of the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers.
MA. BIENVENIDA T. CANDELARIA
MA. BIENVENIDA T. CANDELARIA currently coordinates the Interior Design program and is the Associate Director for program development at Philippine Women’s University. She received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Santo Tomas and her Masters in Interior Design from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She is a licensed architect who has worked on structural, landscape, and engineering projects with prestigious architectural firms and a design consultant for residential, office, private resort, and renovation projects.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Architectural-Design-273362379356211
DAN VINCENT CANEO
DAN VINCENT CANEO is a part time professor at PWU and Mapua University. He teaches courses in animation and visual effects. He has a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication and a Master’s Degree in Technology in Education.
GALLERY
MANAGER
NOEL S. CUIZON
NOEL S. CUIZON is a multi-award-winning visual artist whose works frequently address subjects such as personal struggle, social alienation, and identity politics. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the Philippine Women’s University, where he is currently completing his Masters in Fine Arts and Design. After his first solo show, he represented the Philippines in various expositions such as the 3rd ASEAN Travelling Exhibition, the Quinta Bienal de la Habana in Havana, Cuba, and the 4th Asian Art Show in Fukuoka, Japan. He received several awards such as an honorable mention at the 2nd Biennial of Arts in Makurazaki City Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, the Mention du Jury in the 26’eme Festival International de la Peinture in Cagnes-sur-mer, France, and the Thirteen Artists Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a bi-annual tribute given by the institution to outstanding young artists. He was endowed the Starr Foundation Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council as well as an artist-in-residence bursary from the Pacific Bridge Contemporary Southeast Asian Art in Oakland, California.
OJT COORDINATOR
D-LAB MANAGER
ARSENIO OLIVER T. DIZON
ARSENIO OLIVER T. DIZON is the program coordinator of Visual Communication at the Philippine Women’s University. He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Advertising degree from PWU and his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Santo Tomas. He worked as a graphic artist in a printing press and at an advertising agency. He specializes in printing production, both traditional and digital.
IDr. CHE ALEXEI G. ELLSON
IDr. CHE ALEXEI G. ELLSON is a graduate of Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Interior Design from the Philippine Women’s College of Davao City in 2009. Aside from achieving several academic excellence and university service awards during undergraduate college, he is also the first graduate of PWC-Davao that passed the PRC Interior Design Licensure Exams, in November 2009.
With practicing as a freelance Licensed Interior Designer, he began teaching part-time in the BS- ID program of PWU SFAD Manila in April 2011 and still in service with the university for more than a decade. He was a graduate student in the Master of Interior Design program of U.P. Diliman where he also received the College Scholar Award in his first year of study in the graduate program.
Now, alongside with his BS-ID faculty colleagues, IDr. Ellson perseveres the legacy of the late IDr. Marcelo Alonzo in training and preparing the BS-ID graduates of PWU Manila in continuation of the hopes to maintain PWU within the top 10 ranks of the PRC Interior Design Licensure Examinations in the coming years.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
COORDINATOR
NOELL EL FAROL
NOELL EL FAROL is a multimedia artist and has been practicing his art since the mid 80’s. He often works with glass, stone, paper, among other materials; has recently exhibited in Shizuoka, Japan; represented Philippines in numerous exhibitions both locally and internationally such as in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, New York, China, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Russia, Dubai, Macao, Spain, and Bangladesh (1989 Biennale). His large scale stone sculptures are publicly displayed in Vietnam such as Hue Province, Hai Phong, Ang Giang Province and Ninh Thuan Province; also in Penza, Russia; Dubai, U.A.E.; and in China. He has 12 cast glass sculptures installed in an open sculpture park of Haslla Art World Museum in Korea; and in the museum of Shizuoka University, Shizuoka City, and Seto City Art Museum, Aichi- Ken, Japan.
Noell has earned multiple awards for his artistic achievements in the areas of painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture most notable are awards given by the Art Association of the Philippines, the Printmaking Association of the Philippines (now Pinoy Printmakers), Metrobank Foundation, the NCCA Gawad ng Sining, and by the Federation of Professional Photographers of the Philippines.
Website: www.instagram.com/noell_el_farol
BFA PROGRAM
COORDINATOR
SAMMUEL A. OCCEÑO
SAMMUEL A. OCCEÑO received his B.F.A. in Advertising in 1992 at the Philippine Women’s University in Manila. During his first year of undergraduate studies, the late Ibarra dela Rosa took him as an apprentice; as a result, he adopted his mentor’s philosophy that it is essential to focus and give weight to actual studio practice than purely theories. Throughout the years, Samm Occeno, a multi-disciplined artist, experimented with various mediums, styles, and techniques, honing his craft as a studio arts practitioner in the Visayas region. Occeno pursued his M.A. in Fine Arts and Design at the Philippine Women’s University. He is currently the BFA Area Coordinator for the School of Fine Arts and Design.
AK OCOL
AK OCOL is a self-taught artist based in Las-Pinas City. She graduated from De La Salle University with a degree in Psychology and pursued her graduate degree in fine arts at the Philippine Women’s University where she currently teaches. She is also one of the finalists of the 2019 Mullenlowe NOVA Awards Manila and currently training as a tattoo apprentice.
She works with a variety of media including glitch-based drawings and new media such as video and databending. In her process, she seeks to explore issues in representation, identity, and how the limits of spaces can affect personal narratives. Her recent experimentations involve her deep interest in virtual spaces and video games.
Website: www.instagram.com/ak.ocol
BSID PROGRAM
COORDINATOR
MYRNA O. ONOZA, PHD
MYRNA O. ONOZA, PhD, is a licensed interior designer. She earned her B.S. in Fine Arts major in Interior Design at the Eulogio Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology, where she also obtained her M.A. in Administration and Supervision under a Philippine State Universities and Colleges scholarship grant. She also earned her M.A. in Special Education from the Philippine Normal University, and received her Doctor of Education Management degree from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. She has served as an auditor for the Council for Interior Design Educators, has taught courses in interior design, served as a Dean of another school’s College of Architecture and Fine Arts, and has been a graduate lecturer of special education. She is an active member of the Philippine Institute for Interior Designers.
CHRISTOPHER HELMUT PRUFER
CHRISTOPHER HELMUT PRUFER is an experienced Industrial Design teacher and Consumer Product designer. Driven by the need to develop innovative and sustainable products, his goal includes developing the quality children’s furniture line of products and sharing his ideals to the next generation. In addition to his primary job functions, Chris has been recognized by hundreds of parents in the Philippines for his extraordinary commitment to developing his line of children’s furniture.
Website: https://pamamatoyfurniture.com/
M.FAD PROGRAM
COORDINATOR
MERVY C. PUEBLO MFA Sculpture & Public Art, USA ‧ GRADUATE ADVISER
MERVY C. PUEBLO is the current Philippine Women’s University School of Fine Arts and Design Graduate School Coordinator. She specializes in sculpture, installation, and public art. She received her B.F.A. in Visual Communication from St. Scholastica’s College de Manila and her M.F.A. in Visual Studies (Sculpture) from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design as a Fulbright Scholar from the Philippines. After completing her graduate studies in the U.S., she returned to teach at Philippine Women’s University. She has completed residencies in Vietnam, Russia, and South Korea. Her work has been exhibited in various galleries and museums, including solo and group shows at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Kulay Diwa Art Galleries, Blanc Art Space, Le Pavilion, Boston Art Gallery, Kaida Art Gallery, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Artinformal Gallery, Gallery Anna, Liongoren Gallery, Gallery Nine-SM Art center, National Commission for Culture and Arts, Ayala Museum, and Gallery 1951 at home and abroad. She has also worked for various institutions as an Art Teacher for the Link Center for the Deaf, the Mute and Therapy Plus (School for People with Down Syndrome), as well as a Teaching Assistant and Assistant to the Gallery Director of the Minneapolis College of Arts and Design, respectively. She was recently included in the Thirteen Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a bi-annual tribute given to outstanding young artists. She is the recipient of other grants and awards from the Metrobank Foundation, the Arts Network Asia, the National Commission of Culture and the Arts, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Ateneo Gallery.
Website: mervypueblo.weebly.com
ANA ROBERTA Y. SADIUA
ANA ROBERTA Y. SADIUA has over 40 years in commercial enterprise, subspecializing in Advertising at the beginning of her Marketing career. She has worked with reputable advertising agencies and fast-moving consumer goods, handling and part of a team formed to create globally acclaimed advertising campaigns. She holds a degree in AB Broadcast Communication (Cum Laude) and a double Masters Degree, one in Business Management from the University of the Philippines as part of her professional career growth, and the other in Fine Arts and Design, as a lifetime passion which she decided to pursue after full time corporate work. Concurrent to her consultancy engagements, she is a part time faculty at the Philippine Women’s University School of Fine Arts & Design, specializing in Visual Communication, Direct & Creative Research, and Advertising.
MUTYA T. SAMBILE
MUTYA T. SAMBILE is a teacher at Philippine Women’s University and a product designer who has worked for a Manila-based export manufacturing company, as well as a local counterpart program designer for the Product Development and Design Center of the Philippines. She holds a degree in Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from Mapua Institute of Technology, Manila, and is pursuing her Masters in Fine Arts and Design from PWU. She was the Regional Senior Designer with the Advocate for the Philippine Fair Trade Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to product development and design consultancy with small case and starting manufacturers. She is a licensed teacher and has taught mathematics and art at an elementary school.
IDr. JOSE ENRICO SANTIAGO, PIID
IDr. JOSE ENRICO SANTIAGO, PIID, is a graduate of BSID from PWU in the year 2012. He specializes in design projects for Residential, Commercial, and Institutional Interiors, IDr. Santiago is currently pursuing his Master of Fine Arts and Design at the PWU-SFAD graduate program. He is also a current member of the Committee on Professional practice, Heritage Committee, and Media and Publicity Committee in the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID).
JAMES LUIGI TANA
JAMES LUIGI TANA is a writer, cultural worker, and an independent curator from the Philippines. He is currently finishing his master’s degree in Art Studies-Curatorial Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He is a faculty at the Philippine Women’s University School of Fine Arts and DLS-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts.
He served as a member of the curatorial staff for the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila for “do it” (Manila) (2021), “Watch and Chill” (2021), “MCAD Commons: Artist’s Film International: Care” (2021), “Haegue Yang: The Cone of Concern” (2020), and “Constructions of Truths” (2019). He participated as one of the selected researcher-curators for co.iki’s remote residency programme “Memory and Memoricide of the Land: Reimagining Alternative Model of Museum” in 2021. In the same year, he served as assistant curator for the Manila iteration of “Korea Research Fellow: 10×10”.
Tana wrote commissioned articles for Asia-Europe Foundation (2020-2021). He contributed to InTheMuseum, a newsletter sponsored by the Centre of Doctoral Studies at King’s College London “which explores engaging with art and museums in a pandemic.” He won the Ateneo Art Gallery-Kalaw Ledesma Foundation Inc. Essay Writing Prize for the non-student category (2020).
JOSEPHINE L. TURALBA MFA NEW MEDIA, AT ‧ GRADUATE ADVISER
JOSEPHINE L. TURALBA is an interdisciplinary artist who incorporates painting, photography, video, sound, and installation to explore her subject matter. She obtained her undergraduate degree and her Master of Fine Arts in New Media from Transart Institute at Universität Krems in Krems, Austria. Her works take a visceral approach to the politics of violence, focusing on the dynamics of infliction, trauma, depicting traces and spaces, a place where empathy translates into healing. Her videos and sculptural installation works have been shown at the Lopez Memorial Museum and Library in Pasig City, Philippines, the Malta Contemporary Art Center in Malta, the 12th Cairo Biennale in Cairo, Egypt, the KIT Kunst-im-Tunnel in Düsseldorf, Germany, the South Hill Park in Bracknell, United Kingdom, the Yuchengco Museum in Makati City, Philippines, the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, the Werkstatt der Kulturen in Berlin, Germany, the La Cinémathčque Française in Paris, France, the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the Santorini Biennale in Santorini, Greece and the Nova Gallery in Makati City, Philippines. She was a recipient of the 2012 Art Omi International Artists Residency and the current Dean of Philippine Women’s University’s School of Fine Arts and Design.
Website: https://josephineturalba.art/
ETHEL VILLAFRANCA PhD Education, AU ‧ GRADUATE ADVISER
ETHEL VILLAFRANCA, PhD, is the Curator and Exhibitions Manager of the Museum of Chinese Australian History, in Melbourne, Australia. She has been involved in museum/cultural work in the Philippines, the USA, and Australia since 1998 and has held positions at the Ayala Museum and Lopez Museum and Library as well as graduate internship roles at various institutions such as the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Harn Museum of Art, and Florida Museum of Natural History. She has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, a master’s in Museology (major: education) from the University of Florida, and a bachelor’s in Philippine Arts (major: arts management) from the University of the Philippines-Manila. Her PhD research, Curated learning, focused on identifying teaching strategies of museums that school teachers can adopt to help students engage in deep learning. Ethel has been awarded prestigious academic and professional scholarships including the Fulbright Scholarship, Asian Cultural Council fellowship, and Melbourne International Research scholarship. She is the principal author of Making Museums Work: A Zero In Handbook, the first comprehensive and practical handbook on establishing and managing museums in the Philippines.
ARNEL Y. VILLANUEVA
ARNEL Y. VILLANUEVA is a professional photographer, visual artist, and multimedia arts instructor. Been into digital photography for 18 years now, carries experience owning a photography studio up to this present time, and been part of the teaching academe since 2015. His outmost desire is to continually share his experiences, knowledge, and skills to young minds to be more authentic and creative in their discipline.
Expanded Graduate Adviser Pool
ANGELIKA RINHOFFER, MFA new media, USA
German artist ANGELIKA RINHOFFER, born in Nuremberg, Germany, grew up surrounded by the visual opulence of Catholic churches in Bavaria. She spent church services in fearful awe, absorbing the images of tortured saints and martyrs that lined the walls. It was an unforgettable experience that she now draws upon as an artist. Trained as a photographer in Germany, Rinnhofer started posing people in bygone costumes, in postures, lighting, and composition inspired by the Old Masters. Not tied to the visual language of just one painter or one period in time, the photographs nevertheless are heavily inspired especially by Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio, by Mannerism and the Renaissance.
Rinnhofer is currently a photography instructor, commercial photographer and artist. She is the recipient of a Kodak European Gold Award and received a fellowship in photography from the Dutchess County Arts Council. She participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence program in 2005. She currently resides in Beacon, NY.
Website: https://www.angelikarinnhofer.com/
BEATA FLEISCHMANN, MFA Industrial Design, USA
BEATA FLEISCHMANN has been an instructor in higher education since 2005 teaching within Interior Design in the United States as well as Architectural Technology in South Africa. Her focus is towards combining concept methodology with strong technological skills. Her varied educational background of Textile Design, Sculpture, Interior Design, Ecological Architecture, and Furniture Design has helped her to foster a sense of curiosity and exploration for herself and she aspires to have her students develop the same curiosity. She pushes her students to become acute observers and questioners.
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beata-fleischmann-design/
BUDJI TRESVALLES
BUDJI TRESVALLES is a product designer with a degree in BFA major in Industrial Design from the University of Sto. Tomas. She specializes in homestyle, fashion accessories, trend tracking and toy design. Her advocacy is designing for Fair Trade. She is also into illustration and photography. She teach part-time design history and other design subjects in college.
HUAN WEN, MFA Interaction Design, USA
HUMA MULJI, MFA NEW MEDIA ARTS, DE
HUMA MULJI works with sculptural installation, photography, collage and drawing. The city and its collective memory, the everyday and the overlooked serve as subjects in her deliberately awkward works. Looking at the dysfunctional, the sorrowful, the futile and the funny, the sculptures stand as inconvenient witnesses to time and place, critically exploring material, form and a fragmented historical narrative. Within a backdrop of economic globalisation, state and military power, Mulji has an abiding interest in examining the specificity of place, amplifying a perpetual discomfort and scepticism from the perspective of both observer and participant, in the face of colonialism and capitalism.
Mulji’s participation in recent exhibitions includes Can you Hear my Voice? Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, (2021) Skyfall, (solo) Karachi, Pakistan (2020), The Centre of Gravity, Bristol, UK, (2020), In the Open and in Stealth MACBA, Barcelona, Spain (2018), Witness, Karachi Biennale (2017), welcome to what we took from is the state, Queens Museum, New York, USA (2017), A country of Last Things, Koel Gallery, Karachi, (2016), The Great Game, Irani Pavilion, Venice Biennale, (2015) and Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, (2014) . She is the recipient of the Abraaj Group Art Prize 2013, and is represented by Project 88 Mumbai.
She currently lives in Bristol, UK and is Senior Lecturer, Fine Art, at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
Website: http://humamulji.com/
JADE HOYER, MFA Printmaking, USA
JADE HOYER’s work closely examines her Tuesday mornings. By this she reflects on her morning coffee but also her positionality in society and the greater impact of her daily actions. She works in an expanded print practice, combining printmaking with artist’s books, social practice, and community activism. She has exhibited nationally and internationally has been recognized by organizations such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Minnesota State Arts Board. She is based in Denver, Colorado, where she is an Assistant Professor of Art at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Website: https://www.jadehoyer.com/
JANA BENITEZ, MFA Graphic Arts, USA
JANA BENITEZ was born in 1985 in New York to a Filipino family. She graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a BA in visual arts in 2008. A child art prodigy, the artist had her first exhibition at the age of 12 at the Ayala Museum in the Philippines in 1998. At age 14, she had a solo show at the Walter Wickiser Gallery in New York. Since then, she has continued to exhibit work in New York, the Philippines, Berlin, and Singapore.
JEANNE CRISCOLA, MFA Graphic Arts, USA
JEANNE CRISCOLA is an artist, designer, and educator. Her artworks, which are exhibited internationally, take the form of the book, drawing, photography, moving image, installation, generative art, and performance. She collaborates with international and community organizations on projects that feature both arts and culture issues and social justice initiatives. Jeanne’s most high-profile publications and exhibitions are the many award-winning projects she has created for the Soros Foundations.
Website: https://criscoladesign.com/
JEONGHO PARK, MFA Graphic Design, USA
KHALED HAFEZ, MFA Painting, Egypt
KHALED HAFEZ is born in Cairo, Egypt in 1963 where he currently lives and works. He studied medicine and followed the evening classes of the Cairo School of Fine Arts (Faculty of Fine Arts) in the eighties. After attaining a medical degree in 1987 and M.Sc. as a medical specialist in 1992, he gave up medical practices in the early nineties for a career in the arts. He later obtained an MFA in new media and digital arts from Transart Institute (New York, USA) and Danube University Krems (Austria). Hafez practice spans the mediums of painting, film / video, photography, installation and interdisciplinary approaches. Hafez is a Fulbright Fellow and Rockefeller Fellow.
Website: https://khaledhafez.com/
LIZZA MAY DAVID
LIZZA MAY DAVID’s multidisciplinary practices involves autobiographical narratives relating to identity, memory, knowledge and its loss in a personal and collective sense. Responding and resonating to these through mark making on canvas allows her furthermore to question how ideologies run through our bodies, influencing human/nonhuman relations, materialities, and indexical affinities. David studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg and University of Arts Berlin, Germany.
Website: www.lizzamaydavid.com
NANCY WHITCHER
NANCY WHITCHER is a Connecticut -based multidisciplinary artist who uses printmaking, clay sculpture and photography to reimagine the realms of nature. Since 2001, her work has been influenced by her grant awards to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Kansas City Institute of Art and Design and the art residencies at the Vermont Studio Center where she worked on themes in contemporary art and design in painting. At her art residency at the Zea Mays Printmaking she researched and worked on historic and contemporary pochoir monotype. Her clay work in hand building vessels demonstrate her understanding of three dimensional form. She works to bring the mark making from her 2-D work to come alive in her sculpture where they offer design and visual excitement.
Website: ncwhitcher.net
PATRICIA ARANETA, PhD Traditional Arts, UK
PATRICK SUNICO, mde INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, AU
PAUL OTT, MFA Photography, USA
Paul Ott-Artist, photographer, writer, has taught in schools and in colleges and universities. He has worked in commercial arts and as a professional photographer.
He feels it is important to establish how you approach image making and to build a relationship with the viewer. A subtle shared emotion or experience perhaps, that builds that bridge between the artist and the viewer. And a way to establish that you have achieved that goal. Perhaps, once achieved you can change the world one person at a time.
Working in both black and white and color though his love is for black and white. By removing the natural colors from images, we are left with a different reality…an abstraction of sorts. One that forces us to think about those images differently and to view them with more scrutiny than perhaps we would normally. And that is a beautiful thing!
He is currently working on three portfolio series. One of “dark flowers”, one of Woods Hole and one of ancient “dead” stones. He is represented by galleries in the USA in CT, NY and in private art collections in USA and Europe.
Website: paulott.me
PENG WU, MFA Illustration, USA
PENG WU is an interdisciplinary artist and designer dedicated to creating socially engaged art in public space. His work combines the power of design thinking with contemporary art strategies to address various urgent social issues including immigration, health disparity, queer rights etc. Through collaborating across disciplines and cultures, he has created participatory art installations exhibited in art institutions such as Weisman Art Museum, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, as well as numerous public spaces and community centers both in the U.S. and China. He is also an independent curator working with international cultural organizations on various exhibitions. Recent projects include the tour exhibition Home of Memories by Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project; Shanghai International Paper Art Biennale at Fengxian Museum etc. He is also an educator currently working as a full-time professor at St Cloud State University in the U.S.
Website: www.pengwu.works
SONIA E. BARETT, MFA Sculpture, UK/AT
SONIA E. BARETT performs Composites of plants, animals, elements and people to create interventions that presence their objectification and commodification, she also thinks about how to change perceptions of phenomena in “nature” that are a given. The work seeks to create new questions where there was a kind of certainty that has to do with the hegemony of normative wester European values.
Born in the UK of Jamaican and German parentage Sonia E Barrett grew up in Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Cyprus and the UK. She studied literature at the University of St Andrews Scotland and her MFA at Transart Institute Berlin/New York.
Her work unpacks the boundaries between the Determined and the determining with a focus on race and gender, She makes sculptural works so she can run her hands alone the fissures and manifest strategies for multiple compatible existences and mourn.
THOMAS O. HAAKENSON, PHD Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society, USA
THOMAS O. HAAKENSON is Associate Professor in the graduate Critical and Visual Studies Program, as well as in the undergraduate Critical Studies Program and the Visual Studies Program, at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and Oakland, USA. He holds a doctorate in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society from the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, as well as graduate-level minors in German and the History of Science and Technology. In 2013 he completed a Certificate in Program Evaluation from the Department of Organization Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota.