Geraldine Javier

Geraldine Javier (born 1970 in Makati) is a contemporary Filipino visual artist whose work blends painting with other media, such as installation, embroidery and found objects. She is regarded as one of the most celebrated Southeast Asian artists, both in academic circles and in the art market.

Javier first trained as a nurse before turning to art. She then took a bachelor's degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Fine Arts, where Roberto Chabet shaped her conceptual approach. Some critics link her preference for art that prompts intellectual engagement rather than immediate emotion to that training. She rose to prominence in 2003, when she received the Thirteen Artists award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Her imagery draws on film and photography, from classic European cinema to Filipino films by Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. Her paintings explore mortality, emotional violence and troubled relationships, often through religious iconography that critics connect to her own experience of Catholic culture in the Philippines. Since 2004 she has exhibited internationally, with shows in Berlin, Shanghai, Seoul and Singapore.