Imelda Cajipe Endaya Becomes First Woman Named National Artist of the Philippines

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. Filipina artist Imelda Cajipe Endaya was named to the Order of National Artists of the Philippines for Visual Arts on September 1, becoming the first woman to receive the honor in its fifty-four-year history. The order was established in 1972 to recognize those who have significantly contributed to the country’s arts. Born in 1949, Endaya is known for her social realist paintings, prints, textiles, and mixed-media installations exploring Philippine life, touching on themes including human rights, gender and labor inequality, cultural identity, the environment, and migration. In 1987, with fellow artists Brenda Fajardo, Anna Fer, Sister Ida Bugayong, and Julie Lluch, she co-founded Kababaihan sa Sining at Bagong Sibol na Kamalayan (Women in Art and Emerging Consciousness), more commonly known as Kasibulan, which promoted the work of women artists. “People say I have just broken a glass ceiling. There should be more successful women artists after me,” Endaya told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. She was candid about the reasons she felt that female artists had until now been overlooked for the honor. “I look at the list of National Artists, and they are all men, because those in power who made the decisions were men,” she said. “Men have big egos and they are drinking buddies; it is easy for them to remember their compadre. The women don’t drink with them, so they are forgotten.” Despite her long wait for the national honor, Endaya is much decorated: She received the CCP Thirteen Artists Award in 1990, the Che-ju Pre-Biennale Special Award in 1995, and the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999. In 2022, she was the subject of a major retrospective at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. “Though art itself cannot solve problems, it is a peaceful way of practicing political freedom,” said Endaya, addressing her enduring commitment to exploring social inequalities and political injustices. “It is art’s function to unleash imagination and creativity, whether in joy or in rage, and to critically engage its viewers to seek solutions.”