Debut

1st Solo Exhibit of Ezekiel Fajardo

A debut can be as formal an occasion as it is nostalgic. With the celebration of new beginnings comes the acknowledgement of the past. An acknowledgement that our past milestones shape whatever future ones lie ahead. For Ezekiel Fajardo, these fond memories take graceful, fluid form in clothes. Special events call for special attire, and looking at his own, Fajardo recalls all the past experiences, both joyous and solemn, they were witness to. For however lightly these garments wrinkle, twist, fold, and hover, they carry a weight few other objects can match.

“Debut” is a debut for Fajardo in more ways than one. Debuting his works for his first solo show, he dons his metaphorical formal ensemble through his signature subject matter: the elegant dress. Black dresses dance across a plain white canvas, as full of life as the people that may have worn them. In Fajardo’s works is a fine balance between specificity and ambiguity. His keen painterly eye renders each crease with such detail, one might make out the movements that folded them in the first place. Yet the absence of a figure, of any other visual symbols, turns each work into a blank canvas – vessels where one may project their recollections of formality, grace, festivity, mourning, or any other nostalgic reflections. In the words of the artist, the dresses both dance aimlessly in space and float toward secret destinations only the viewer may know.

Finding connection through clothes can be a peculiar thing. That something tailored to fit one specifically can evoke emotion in another attests to a universality in the way we experience things of importance to us. The visual of a simple black dress calls to mind a night of elegance, celebration, or melancholy. Fajardo’s “Debut” is a celebration of what once was and what now can be. 

– Text by Mara Fabella