On September 12, 2026, the artists of Frame x Frame, MP Villahermosa, Francis Capul, Sjay Ramos, and Simon Lim gathered in front of an audience of over forty of Mugna Gallery’s guests and artists from both the established scene of Dumaguete City and the younger student artists from the local communities and universities. Frame x Frame is the first exhibition of these four fresh Fine Arts graduates and through this conversation, not only was the focus on process and concept, but the potential within their practice and the opportunities exhibitions like this open.
As guests listened to the stories told by the artists, they partook in dishes prepared by MP Villahermosa referencing her prints titled Bakalaw, Sinardinas, and Kinilaw. MP shared how each fish is attached to a story and memory shared with her most intimate relationships—with friends, family, and partner. She goes back to her 18th Birthday how her father had caught Lapu-Lapu fish to make up for the missing lechon for her debut. She detailed the labor of carving the rubber and how the process of creating the print is like “giving birth” or to make alive the memories that were once attached to these dishes.
Sjay Ramos described her mental and psychological experiences through her paintings—how the mental blends into the physical and how important it was to depict personal experiences into art without losing depth and the potential of the viewer’s interpretation. She described her own growth from hyperrealism to referencing surrealist form. She described this journey into stylization and leaving photorealism comically as “my paintings actually looking like paintings”
Francis Capul shared his own process from finding the figures depicted in his drawings to fragmenting the form of the body in a way to depict a new kind of narrative through movement. He shared tips and advice on entering the medium of oil painting, from oil mediums, to paint, to brushes, and even the surfaces he paints on—emphasizing the relevance of the kind of material that matters investing on and which ones offer a bit more leeway.
Simon Lim described his experiences in his trips from one location to another as he painted the locations depicted in his paintings. He described going to various places of Dumaguete, Valencia, and Dauin and painting the warmth and nostalgia attached to these spaces that are often forgotten, and soon, lost as cities grow and develop. He described his new series of paintings—wanting to depict Dumaguete City through its undisclosed structures. A question from writer Angela Fabunan gave Simon an opportunity to imagine how to depict Dumaguete without using its iconic structures but what he would consider “undisclosed”.
Despite the variety of topics that filled the hour-long conversation, there was one common underlying thought that went around the exhibitions and this artist talk—this opportunity given to these four artists opens many doors for the next generation of young artists. For many, the art scene of Dumaguete is described as tight-knit, but this opens many doors especially for the young student artists in attendance who witnessed these four talk about their process, their stories, their aspirations, and hopes for their own practice.
