This issue will include the artist's passion projects and professional works in Photography Graphic Design Illustration Logo & Branding Identity.
The Portfolio's December Mag features the Multimedia artist, Jochelle Recto. A queer Filipino specializing in Graphic Design, Illustration, and Visual Arts. This issue will highlight the weirdest and most creative that the artist has been during the CoVid-19 pandemic.
The Portfolio's December Mag features the Multimedia artist, Jochelle Recto. A queer Filipino specializing in Graphic Design, Illustration, and Visual Arts. This issue will highlight the weirdest and most creative that the artist has been during the CoVid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, she started in a design school with the littlest design knowledge. She remembers opening a photoshop program without knowing how to export anything from it. But applying to a multimedia arts course was a decision that she genuinely wanted to make. She is sure from the beginning that art is what's for her. Being interested in so many forms of art, she decided to learn all of them.
Art is one of the things Jochelle is always passionate about, and starting at zero wasn't much of an obstacle for her but a fun challenge she has grown liking.
Jochelle "Joch" Recto (she/ her) is a queer visual artist and graphic designer. She is currently a Multimedia Arts and Design student at iACADEMY, Makati. Joch uses her work to advocate for the queer community and womxn's rights in the country.
Recto finds pleasure in going through and experiencing passionate works in film, music, fine arts, and literature with a hot cup of black coffee. She values the importance of seeking other spaces and experiences in self-growth.
2020-PRESENT
Bachelor of Art in Multimedia Arts and Design
School of Design and Arts, iACADEMY Graduating in 2024 (1.2 GPA)
2018
Arts and Design Track School of Design and Arts, Imus Unida Christian School Inc. (90 %)
She currently works as a Marketing Graphic Designer at Abkdapedia (Philippines), an online store that sells learning materials to assist children's early learning development. Creating designs for the good of the people.
She is one of the Titik Poetry Org. Artists, a Cavitebased spoken word and art collective. An organization that uses art as a platform to help poor communities and children with their education.
How art, for an artist like Joch, became a coping mechanism in a place like the Philippines.
PASO (The Burn) is a series of photographs about pain and the pressure to make peace with it.
The series contains photographs she shot in her family's house. Along with it are poems she wrote for the book.
Joch started making the photobook early in the CoVid-19 pandemic while learning to navigate the limited space she found herself stuck on.
PASO explores our experiences of suffering and how our situation in life forces us to make peace with it. To make survival a little bit easier.
The book was titled 'PASO,' a Tagalog word for 'burn.' A term for an injury to the skin caused by heat. For Joch, it was the word that best defined
her experience in the pandemic.
She recalled, "when I reflected on all those feelings and irritating situations, it almost felt like my skin was burning and the house was on fire. But still, I found myself unable to take down the fire. I couldn't do anything about it but compromise."
"Ang Mamatay ng Dahil Sayo" is the artwork title for her version of Jose Rizal's novels: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo cover designs. It is a one-book compilation of Rizal's two famous novels.
The design is a flip book concept. The first book, Noli Me Tangere, goes to the front and the book's sequel, El Filibusterismo, goes to the backside. The front design highlights the torch that plays an important part in Noli Me Tangere. The back design shows the figure of the protagonist falling down a river which is also a crucial scene in the sequel.
Jochelle always tries to center the things she most cares about in her work. In the 2nd Issue of her made-up magazine, she thought of exploring male standards and their need to look strong and be emotionally, physically, and socially masculine.
Jochelle made the design look like solid shapes as though mocking or confronting the "MACHO" idea.
The name of the made-up magazine, 'WIRDO,' was a playful approach to other people's perception of her works. Embracing her "weirdly" creative way of creating art.
"Alice sa Malungkot na Maynila" is a madeup film about the famous character in "Alice in Wonderland."
The idea for the film poster is to retell a modern Filipino version of Alice as a provincial girl in a setting like Manila.
The concept for the design was to make it appear comical while being heavy, making the decision for the colors to appear popish but depressing.
(BERSO, 2022)
Jochelle was invited to create the poster for the Robinsons Malls' Buwan ng Wika event this year. The event was in collaboration with the Rotaract Bacoor and the Titik Poetry Organization.
The challenge was to create a piece from the word BERSO (or 'Verse' in the English term) to acknowledge Filipino literature while honoring the contribution of our indigenous communities to the language of Filipinos today.
ABKDApedia is an online store that sells learning materials to assist children's early learning development. It aims to make a primary homeschooling accessible, efficient, and advanced for parents & tutors.
As the part-owner and the brand's resident graphic designer, Jochelle Recto created the logo for ABKDApedia and collaborated with her creative team on the visual identity.
Being a brand that desires to create products that blend well with new ways of learning, Jochelle aimed to create a logo that speaks out as "the" modern and better option.
"With my passion projects, I draw a lot of inspiration from my own experiences and my communities. I always feel a sense of responsibility to represent ordinary Filipino womxn and the LGBTQs in my craft.
"That is why the works that I accumulated from the past years always portray pain and struggle. Because most of the life of these communities that I try to represent constantly live in struggle."
All of the media and materials in this current issue are sourced and from the magazine and provided by the artist. Contact us through theportfolio.com
