“Shh!” Bleaching as an Auto-destructive Art Method of Representing the Silencing of Women

Authors

• Kristelle Tenero de Leon, De La Salle UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper discusses the artistic representation of the muffling of women’s voices and the culture of silence through a theoretically auto-destructive method of artmaking—bleaching using mark-making on textile. Through studio art research, the reductive and erasing properties of bleaching agents are used by bleaching printed images of women in fabric to metaphorically represent and articulate the existence of silencing imposed upon women. Guided by the lens of feminism and Gustav Merger’s manifesto of auto-destructive art, this work presents the artistic images of 13 women across Philippine history—from the babaylans to Maria Ressa—on textile, imbued with bleaching effects. Moreover, the work mediates on some of the societal constraints set on women’s speech and visibility because of the constructed ideal images of women perpetuated by male discourse.

Recommended Citation

de Leon, Kristelle Tenero (2026) "“Shh!” Bleaching as an Auto-destructive Art Method of Representing the Silencing of Women," DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings: Vol. 10, Article 5.
Available at: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/dacproceedings/vol10/iss1/5