Interview by Maria Chen

“In Bacolod, a city nestled in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, artist Charlie Co has spent the last two decades shaping and sustaining a community-centred vision of contemporary art. Both a celebrated painter and a co-founder of Orange Project—a grassroots art space dedicated to nurturing local talent—Co’s contributions have helped place Bacolod on the map of Southeast Asia’s independent art scenes. He is also a founding member of the seminal collective Black Artists in Asia and co-founder of VIVA ExCon, the Visayas-wide biennial that continues to champion regional artistic voices and critical exchange across the archipelago.”