Imelda Cajipe-Endaya Becomes the First Woman Named National Artist for Visual Arts

After more than five decades of making art about women, labor, migration, identity, history and social life in the Philippines, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya has become the country’s first female National Artist for Visual Arts.

The distinction was conferred through Proclamation No. 1414, signed on September 1, 2026, following the recommendation of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Born in Manila in 1949, Endaya built a practice spanning printmaking, painting, mixed media and installation, often incorporating domestic materials such as textiles, crochet, suitcases, irons and found objects. Her work repeatedly places women’s lived experiences at the center, turning everyday materials into reflections on power, memory and Philippine society.

Endaya’s influence extends beyond her own studio practice. She co-founded KASIBULAN, a collective that helped create greater visibility and dialogue among Filipina artists, and later helped establish Pananaw: Philippine Journal of Visual Arts, an important platform for critical discussion about contemporary Philippine art. Her works have addressed issues ranging from colonial history and human rights to overseas labor and environmental concerns. In Filipina DH, first created in the 1990s, domestic workers’ uniforms, suitcases and household objects became part of an installation examining the experiences of Filipina migrant workers. That body of work returned to Silverlens Manila in January 2026 through “Kahapon Muli Bukas,” bringing its themes of migration, care and dignity back into conversation three decades later.

For Endaya, art has also long been tied to civic and political expression. She has described artists as observers of their historical moment and has argued that art can engage viewers with questions that society has not resolved. Those views are reflected throughout her career, from works produced during the martial-law period to later pieces focused on women’s labor, migration and environmental issues. Her recognition as National Artist adds another milestone to a career that already includes the CCP Thirteen Artists Award, CCP Centennial Honors and the NCCA’s Ani ng Dangal, as well as a major 2022 retrospective, Pagtutol at Pag-asa. Her appointment is historically significant not because women had been absent from Philippine visual art, but because none had previously received the country’s highest state honor in the Visual Arts category.

Which Imelda Cajipe-Endaya work or theme would you want to learn more about?