Colors of Ysabel Cacho’s travels
Ysabel "Ysa" Cacho showcases a series of travel photographs taken from different parts of the world to form a gradient of hues — ranging from black to blue to yellow — in “Snapshot of Colors of My Travels,” which is on view at Discovery Primea, Ayala Ave., Makati City.
The show doesn’t depict your typical tourist shots of typical tourist attractions. Cacho prefers to focus on seemingly ordinary parts of her environment and uses different angles or cropping techniques. She uses those skills to emphasize that no matter where you go, “there is an occasional burst of color if you actually look for it.”
“’Colors of My Travels’ may be arranged by colors not by date, but that doesn’t make it any less autobiographical,” said Ysa.
A copywriter in a respectable ad agency in New York, Ysa had always wanted to study in a top arts school in the US, be a copywriter, work in an ad agency or magazine, live in New York and mount an exhibit. All these she was able to pursue by at the age of 24.
While this is her first solo show, it is not her first exhibition. Back in 2014, Ysa exhibited her works in Lacoste, a small town in Provence, France. In a way, the French countryside inspired this exhibition.
But what makes this different from a typical travel exhibit is Ysa’s own words. With her background as a copywriter, she has an ability to take you to places with her, without losing her dry sense of humor. Ysa doesn’t tell you what to think about each photograph; she merely describes the situation she was in when she pressed the shutter.
“When you rent a bike in Bruges, there are so many exciting things to see other than this red roof. But here it is,” Ysa writes of “Bruges in Red,” which features — you guessed it — a bright red and worn-out roof.
A few days after the opening night of “Colors of My Traels,” Ysa headed back to New York for work only to be stranded in Hong Kong due to the snowstorm. With both her trusty camera and dry sense of humor, she joked: “Maybe this is a sign to do a ‘Colors of My Travels’ sequel.”