Artist and activist Pacita Abad was one of the first Filipino women to be recognized in the international art world. Fascinated with colour and vernacular aesthetics from the many countries she lived and travelled in, mainly in south-eastern Asia and her native Philippines, Abad integrated them into a fertile, complementary combination with clear, immediate, easily readable depictions of the political themes she held dear. The second part of her career veered towards traditional techniques and increasingly abstract visions.
