afterimage
by guest artist Amada Estabillo

October 8-18, 2025

Opening Reception: October 18, 3-6pm

Afterimage is a collection of visual poems on fabric and paper. Using photographic techniques, stitching, drawing, and embroidery, Amada Estabillo explores themes of colonization, landscape, and memory. Through the lens of mother, daughter and woman, Amada considers parallels between the caregiver and the natural world; figures are held by water, protected by thickets and groves, and shrouded by foliage and wild flowers. Silhouettes of traditional Filipino fabrics and family heirlooms are overlaid with embroidery and beads. Flora and figures emerge from dreamscapes built from lived experiences and received narratives, break the surface of canvas and paper, then retreat within fields of colour and texture. Sewn pieces reference the traditional construction of the terno formal wear of the Philippines as well as European embroidery stitches and techniques. The native plants and creatures of Ontario appear as traces throughout the pieces, permeating progressive layers of memory and place. These works reckon with the histories of Filipino and European ancestors settling in a North-American place. They strive to imagine a future where it is possible to nurture authentic connection between land, self, and community within an increasingly fraught world. 

Artist Bio
Amada Estabillo is a Canadian-born artist of mixed Filipino and Irish-American heritage. She lives in the Brockton Village area of Toronto. Amada’s work explores ideas of personal history, memory and landscape. Her materials include mixed media on canvas, wood and paper as well as embroidery and textile pieces. 

Find more about Amada Estabillo:
www.amadaestabillo.org 
@a._r.e