IJWBAA [eej-wah] is a Filipino digital artist and the first Filipino recognized in Techspressionism. He is a neologist and the originator of Decolonial Minimalism —an art movement that reclaims minimalism through ancestral memory and cultural reawakening. His work earned a spot on the shortlist for the Hiiibrand Design and Illustration Awards 2024. His papers were published on Academia.edu.He was selected by David Quiles Guilló, Director of The Wrong, to participate in the 7th Edition of The Wrong Biennale - described by The New York Times as the digital world's answer to Venice Biennale - with Prayers to Ai, further cementing his standing in the international digital art community. His collected works, compiled in two volumes of I Just Wannabe an Artist, have been recognized, officially archived, cataloged, and made available in the collections of the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Museo Reina Sofía, the National Museum of the Philippines, Getty Research Institute, and other prominent cultural institutions worldwide. The two volumes are cataloged in WorldCat under OCLC Numbers 1530632939(Book 1) and 1530636063(Book 2).

Pudong

Pudong

Decolonial Minimalism Founding Work - Culture (Symbols)

Size: 1400 x 1400 pixels

Medium: Digital Art

Artist: IJWBAA

Year: 2025

Description:

Pudong by IJWBAA distills ancestral restraint into a single chromatic gesture: a red stripe crossing a black field like a breath held in ceremony. In many indigenous Filipino traditions, Pudong refers to a headwrap or turban—an emblem of dignity, readiness, and sacred containment. This minimalist abstraction reframes the pudong not as garment, but as mnemonic infrastructure: a line of memory, a band of silence, a visual invocation of discipline and care.

The red stripe evokes bloodline, sovereignty, and the quiet power of withheld speech. It is not loud—it is deliberate. The black background becomes a void of forgetting, pierced by the presence of lineage. IJWBAA’s composition resists ornamentation and instead offers reverence: the pudong as a boundary between thought and action, tradition and transformation. It is a visual prayer for restraint, for readiness, for the sacredness of preparation.

This artwork invites viewers to see the pudong not just as attire, but as philosophy. Pudong becomes a mnemonic line—where movement begins, where memory is wrapped, where legacy is held close. IJWBAA honors the gesture of wrapping as a form of radical care, positioning the stripe as both horizon and headband. It is not just a design—it is a declaration of quiet strength.

Featured On

Website:

coming soon

Social Media:

coming soon

Media:

coming soon

Publication:

IJWBAA. Decolonial Minimalism. Photobook, mm/dd/yyyy, p. #. - coming soon

Exhibitions:

coming soon