In the buzzing halls of Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, one installation stopped people in their tracks. Radiating color and rhythm, Pacita Abad’s Through the Looking Glass (1996) towered in the Encounters sector like a portal to another dimension—alive with stitched textures, cultural memory, and the fearless vibrancy that defined her work. Presented by Silverlens and Tina Kim Gallery, the piece didn’t just command attention—it sold to a major Southeast Asian museum for USD 500,000, a quiet but seismic moment in the global recognition of Filipino art.
Born in 1946 in the remote northern province of Batanes in the Philippines, Abad’s path was far from linear. She studied political science, fled martial law, and ended up crossing more than 60 countries with her husband, development economist Jack Garrity. Her life was a migration of ideas and emotions, filtered through materials like beads, shells, mirrors, and layered fabrics—a practice she pioneered into her signature: trapunto painting.
Through the Looking Glass feels like a culmination of that journey. A riot of stitched color inspired by underwater ecosystems and global textile traditions, the piece was part of Encounters’ “Passage” sector, curated to spotlight works that channel cultural movement and personal transformation.
The sale of the work isn’t just about numbers. It’s about a long-overdue recognition of an artist who bent the rules and made the margins feel like the center. After her death in 2004, Abad’s legacy simmered in silence until recent retrospectives at institutions like MoMA PS1 and the Walker Art Center reignited interest. Now, with a recent retrospective in Manila’s Metropolitan Museum, a major sale, and a roaring reception in Hong Kong, the global art world is catching up.
Abad was never one to chase minimalism or convention. Her art thrums with life—color not as ornament, but as resistance, celebration, and truth. And if the crowd that gathered around Through the Looking Glass is any indication, the world is finally ready to listen.
