Spectral Labors: The Ontology of the Unseen by Amiel Roldan

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"Spectral Labors: The Ontology of the Unseen" 

Written by Amiel Roldan   


This series of paintings interrogates the liminality of cultural workers through a dialectical interplay of presence and erasure, invoking Amiel Roldan’s praxis of socio-political critique (https://kulay-diwa.com/artists/amiel-roldan/ "1"). 

The compositions manifest as palimpsestic layers of spectral figuration, where laboring bodies dissolve into the semiotic abyss—an epistemic rupture that destabilizes hegemonic narratives of artistic production.    

Drawing from Roldan’s engagement with mass prints and installations[](https://kulay-diwa.com/artists/amiel-roldan/ "1"), the series employs a visual syntax of dissonance: fragmented iconographies, obfuscated gestures, and interstitial voids that articulate the paradox of visibility within cultural economies. 

The chromatic schema oscillates between muted sepia tones—evoking archival residues—and incendiary hues that signify resistance, mirroring the dialectics of faith and faithlessness in Roldan’s oeuvre.   

Through an esoteric lexicon of abstraction and conceptual layering, "Spectral Labors" seeks to transmute the unseen toil of cultural workers into an ontological presence, rendering their labor not as peripheral but as the sine qua non of artistic existence.  


May 26, 2025







If you like my concept research, writing explorations, and/or simple writings please support me by sending me a coffee treat at my paypal amielgeraldroldan.paypal.me 





Amiel Gerald Roldan  



I'm trying to complement my writings with helpful inputs from AI through writing. Bear with me as I am treating this blog as repositories and drafts.   



please comment and tag if you like my compilations visit www.amielroldan.blogspot.com or www.amielroldan.wordpress.com 

and comments at

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If you like my works, concept, reflective research, writing explorations,  and/or simple writings please support me by sending 

me a coffee treat at GCash/GXI 09053027965 or http://paypal.me/AmielGeraldRoldan




Amiel Gerald A. Roldan: a multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, academic writing, and trauma-informed mythmaking. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and speculative cosmology, and in bridging creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical collaboration.


Recent show at ILOMOCA
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