Pacita Abad saw the world through colour. “I feel like I am an ambassador of colours,” she once declared, “always projecting a positive mood that helps make the world smile.”

Born in the Philippines in 1946, Abad’s practice drew on the many artistic traditions she encountered through her extensive travels, including mirror embroidery from India, ink brush painting from Korea and batik from Indonesia. These diverse influences formed a multicultural visual language bursting with colours, textures and techniques. More than an aesthetic choice, her approach to artmaking can also be seen as a political statement: it embodied her resistance against the dominant western art forms of the late 20th-century, and her elevation of practices often overlooked in formal art history.

The artist also addressed themes of migration and identity, informed by her own political displacement from the Philippines to San Francisco at the age of 23, after her family faced violence for opposing the Marcos regime. Her perspective was further shaped in 1970s San Francisco—a thriving hub for immigrant communities and strong activist spirit—as well as visits to refugee camps, such as those along the Cambodia-Thailand border. Long before the art world turned its attention to diverse and decentralised voices, her work brought attention to overlooked stories and experiences.

When Abad was invited to do a residency with STPI in 2003, she was working mostly with abstraction, translating her cross-border experiences into kaleidoscopic compositions that captured the intensity of a life lived across cultures. She made the circle—a shape she described as “direct, simple, modern, universal, intimate, fascinating and playful”—a central motif. Inviting joy and connection, the works produced at STPI's workshop reflect her belief that art should be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. 

At a time when Abad’s work has gained global recognition, this exhibition restages a selection of works from her pioneering 2003 STPI exhibition, Circles in My Mind, along with two paintings made in the same year, borrowed from the Pacita Abad Art Estate. Presented now, her works continue to speak with renewed urgency, addressing culture, identity and diversity in ways that feel especially needed and resonant today.

STPI would like to thank the Pacita Abad Art Estate for their support for this exhibition.

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