Asunta Rufino’s exhibit: Life through her photos By Miro Frances D. Capili

MANILA, Philippines—Asunta Rufino is among the remarkable few who refuse to be summarized by a single noun. As evidenced in her blog, aptly titled Asunta Rufino’s Travels Thru Life…, she is a photographer, foodie and traveler all at once. Being an admirer of the works of Sanso, BenCab, Bobby Wong Jr, Rosscapili, Adre Berger and Ansel Adams, behind each of her photographs is a story of how she perceives the life blowing through this world; and behind that, her own love for it.

Rufino herself claims to have, in her website banner, an artistic vision that promises to engage life on every accessible level: “I collect memories with my camera, trying to capture all the bits and pieces of my life that makes it so rich and full. I want to preserve these emotions and thoughts and all the stages as I go through life... The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality and eventually in their own...”

Despite Alba e’ Tramonto being her very first solo photographic exhibition, Rufino confirms through her artistic sensibilities that she is well on her way to revamping the climate of today’s local art scene. Her recurrent subjects – which include the “beauty of the world, the quiet, magical moments of nature” – hint at an austerity about the dent she is already making as an artist.

Inspired by artistic greats such as Nakpil, HR Ocampo, Legaspi, Amorsolo, Manansala and Tabuena; and having learned from Chinese painting masters Hau Chiok and Sy Chiu Hua in the 1980s, she attempts to render, through very detailed and realistic paintings, “the delicate nuances of each flower's petal, the folds of each bird's feather, the way the light cascaded on each leaf.”

It is also of interest to note, however, that she confesses to approaching photography differently. “I wish to create photographs that border between something real and imagined. Notice how each place doesn't necessarily show its exact location in the world. They are not postcards. These are portraits of places – all shot at sunrise and sunset, the magical hours between day and night, between slumber and reality. The places flutter between reality and dreams,” she said.

Here is an artist who chooses to see the world not only from behind the lens of a camera, where she can protect herself from its magnanimity, but also by feeling its roughness and tremors beneath her feet. “But of course, they are all real. I was there, face to face with their beauty…While I had to shut myself from the world for almost half a year for every painting, nowadays I have had to go out, trek the mountains, ride the waves, get sunburned and even get a broken ankle just for my photography,” she says. And because she seems to have equipped herself well with the virtue of steadfastness in sustaining an admirable artistic vision, we are only left to wonder if the world itself is even prepared for the contributions she is out to make.

Alba e’ Tramonto will be held Oct. 15-31 at Gallerie OneWorkshop at LRI Design Plaza, Nicanor Garcia St., Bel Air II, Makati City.