Making Space With Kim Cruz
This is an excerpt from MEGA April 2026’s Arts and Culture
Kim Cruz didn’t wait for space to be given to her—she built it. At 28, the Filipina artist and curator mounted her first European solo exhibition in Paris, earned a place on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for 2026, and continues to expand Kalma Art Foundation, the non-profit she founded to provide art access and healing spaces for vulnerable children and women in the Philippines. Early in her career, she was mentored by National Artist BenCab, whose guidance sharpened her discipline and strengthened her command of figurative work.
Creating Her Space
Her Paris exhibition, Une Chambre À Soi, draws inspiration from Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Rather than presenting only finished works, Kim reconstructed her personal studio inside the gallery, incorporating childhood postcards with handwritten goals, personal notes, drafts, films she grew up watching, and the music she listens to while painting.
“I did a show in Barcelona in 2023, and I was alone at the time. Traveling by myself really helped me because I have a lot of notes from those times. I was able to actually sit down with myself and focus on myself,” she shared.
Reading A Room of One’s Own, which examines how women historically lacked space to create, resonated deeply. “As a woman artist from the Philippines, being in Paris doing a solo show — I was being given a room of my own to be creative, like I was given that space to do this.”
The exhibition balances meticu- lously curated works with pieces that retain a raw, unfinished quality. “I like doing a mixture of these pieces to show my process to my audience,” she said. In a space often defined by polish and finality, she treats the process itself as part of authorship.
Owning the Female Form
Kim’s work centers on the female figure, often rendered nude, textured, and monochromatic. In a cultural landscape where women’s bodies are frequently politicized or sexualized, her approach is intentionally stripped back.
“It’s not about looking sexy,” she said. “I want people to detach the physical side of it and just see it more as something raw. When you take off the clothing, that’s how people connect to it more. It’s very vulnerable.”
Growing up, she immersed herself in paintings of women, a visual education that shaped both her aesthetic and her sense of self. “I grew up reading and looking at female figures, and this helped me become more and more comfortable in my own skin. It made me see the female figure as an art form.”
That reframing—from object to art—is what she hopes other women might experience when encountering her work.
She cites artists such as Lydia Velasco and Jenny Saville as formative influences. “I absolutely love how they portray the woman’s figure in such a beautiful and artistic way. They display such raw and authentic frames of the female figure.” If ever given the opportunity to collaborate, she imagines the dialogue itself would be the most compelling part—“how and why we work on the female figure, and sharing our experiences with art.”
Her figures are predominantly Asian women—not as a performative statement, but as an honest reflection. “I relate to it the most. It’s something that I grew up around, and it’s something that I connect with.” Though not self-portraits, they are extensions of her inner life. “Even if it’s not me in there, it’s more like a personal piece of me in my work.”
For Kim, the nude is not spectacle— it is surrender. By removing adornment and performance, her figures confront the viewer with what remains: vulnerability without shame, strength without armor. The act of surrender invites viewers to move beyond preconceived notions of beauty or sexuality and towards introspection.
Growing up in the Philippines, she noted, the female form was often shrouded in modesty and expectation. Exposure to other cultures showed her how differently the human body could be appreciated and how art could exist apart from judgment. “It’s very authentic. What you see is what you get,” she said.
Photographed by SHEILA CATILO. Art Direction CLARE MAGNO. Sittings Editor STEF JUAN. Production THESSMAR LECTURA. Makeup MIKI LIUSON. Hair MATT LEDESMA. Styling STEVEN CORALDE of QURATOR INC. Photography Assistant CARL SENARIS
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Making Space With Kim Cruz
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