Food for Thought — Exploring Renzo Navarro’s Art Behind the Lens

Marking his second collaboration with PURVEYR, Renzo Navarro showcased in the PURVEYR Post Poblacion last Tuesday, June 12, for an intimate, untitled exhibit of some of his finest, most striking work that changes the way we perceive food.

A former civil engineer student in De La Salle University, Navarro went on to pursue his passion for graphic design two years later and transferred to College of Saint Benilde to study Multimedia Arts. He eventually quit school when his career began to take off during college and moved forth to focus on photography.

I had a brief chat with the 27-year-old photographer and discovered the cipher behind his riddle-laden photographs.

Who are your greatest influences or the people from the industry whom you look up to?

In this age of social media, it’s hard to pinpoint specific influences; each week there’s a new photographer to be inspired by, though I will always look up to my peers. I’ve also been recently inspired by classical paintings, but this was after people pointed out that some of my photos look like paintings.

Your forthcoming exhibit features artwork that puts clear focus on fruits, directed as though they were animated figures. Even previous pieces found on your Instagram page put emphasis on food as the primary subject. What is the concept behind this series? How did you conceive the idea for this exhibit? Walk us through the process of how it came to fruition.

Initially I wanted a space for my food photography but what I ended up with was a dump for everything I eat when I, well, eat my feelings, each post representing an episode of sadness (and hunger). For a hopeless romantic who frequently eats out alone, it blurred the lines between treating myself and sulking.

I intended to make art out of food via Boy Who Eats His Feelings (BWEHF from here on out) as a personal project. I don’t know how it would resolve anything; I just knew I should use my emotions to fuel my art. I then conceptualized BWEHF as a zine and this series was the first editorial I shot with the help of my friends Mags Ocampo and Alyssa Castillo. Shot by the Pasig River, this series was about glorifying or justifying feelings that should not have been there in the first place or I wish weren’t there. I feel this will be a recurring theme that I can explore further and more accurately in the future. The series took a life on its own so I’ve decided to keep it untitled.

The zine didn’t push through so when Marvin asked me to do this exhibit I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make BWEHF a series of prints instead. Though after this exhibit, I feel anything is possible.

How did you end up collaborating with PURVEYR for this exhibit?

I was asked by Marvin to do an exhibit during the tail end of PURVEYR Post’s first exhibit in the Poblacion store. This would be my second collaboration with PURVEYR, the first being an editorial for PURVEYR Magazine Issue 4.

Aside from coming to the exhibit, how else can readers support you and your work?

I currently have prints available at Tarzeer Pictures and Tropa Store, both located in Makati. I’ll have prints available on my website, renzonavarro.com, as soon as I update it, hopefully by the end of the year.