The unfathomable resilience embodied by overseas Filipino workers has persistently resonated across lands of foreign and local soil. During times of separation from loved ones, isolation amplifies in profound depths, and patience grows in immeasurable lengths. Dennis Atienza is well acquainted with such narrative as he paints of his recollections throughout his stay in the Middle East.

Atienza’s exhibition “In the Land called Solace,” depicts the artist’s reconnection with distinctive imagery reminiscent of a significant chapter in his life as an OFW in Saudi Arabia. He encapsulates a myriad of tales – coping with new lifestyles, adapting to peculiar cultures, and recalibrating ideologies and principles to endure new territories. Atienza works with familiar objects complemented with delicate foliage and even explores the subject of the female body bare from the waist up – a subtle portrayal of embracing one’s vulnerabilities with grace and composure.

Amid treading distant paths, the artist rises above inhibitions, and anchors to fragments that emanate growth and versatility, comfort and tranquility. Atienza and his artworks earnestly reminisce important remnants that are reifications of home.

[Write up by Deseree Mangulabnan]