Today’s Doodle celebrates Philippine artist, feminist, and activist Pacita Abad, renowned for her bold use of color and mixed media as well as her use of art to address global themes. On this day in 1984, Abad made history as the rst woman to receive the Philippines’ prestigious Ten Outstanding Young Men award.
Pacita Abad was born on October 5th, 1946 in Basco, in the northern province of Batanes, the Philippines. She pursued graduate studies in San Francisco, California in the U.S. in 1970 and became very involved in the city’s artistic community. Abad went on to study painting and then traveled the world with her art supplies, from Bangladesh to Sudan, and the cultures she encountered had a profound inuence on her ever-evolving artistic style. Dedicated to improving the world through art, she used pieces like her 1979 series “Portraits of Cambodia” to raise awareness of societal issues.
Over time, Abad transitioned toward abstract work and pioneered a painting technique called trapunto (Italian for quilting). To achieve this style, she stuffed her canvases to create a sculptural effect and integrated culturally signicant materials discovered during her travels, like shells and fabrics. Abad channeled a passion for public art into her 2003 project “Painted Bridge,” for which she covered Singapore’s 55-meter Alkaff Bridge with an explosion of 2,350 vibrantly colored circles.
Abad crafted over 5,000 pieces of art, and today her colorful legacy resonates in collections in over 70 countries.
Thank you, Pacita Abad, for painting the picture of a brighter tomorrow!