Yllang
CECILLE PAULINE SANGLAP MONTENEGRO (YLLANG) is a self-taught Filipino artist, book illustrator, and migrant women’s and children’s rights activist. Born on August 13, 1981, in Iloilo, Philippines, Yllang studied fine arts and majored in interior design at University of the East Caloocan from 1998 to 2000. It was in 2000 when she started to work as an overseas performing artist in Japan, which she continued to do until 2010 when she returned to the Philippines for good, which she considered the best decision of her life.
In 2014, she started to paint again under her own studio, Yllang Artworks, and is an active book illustrator, designer, and layout artist registered with the National Book Development Board.
Since 2015 she has been serving as president of Batis AWARE (Association of Women in Action for Rights and Empowerment) on a voluntary capacity. Inspired by the stories of survival of the women of Batis AWARE, who were victims of human trafficking, the artist had used her painting to empower the members and their children to share their stories through art. In April 2017, Yllang set up Empowerment Through Art (ETA) after her advance digital change-making training in World Pulse. ETA is an awareness and fund-raising campaign for Batis-AWARE, and for aspiring artists. It gives art workshop and art therapy for distressed women victim-survivors of all forms of human rights violations, especially the migrant women workers all over the world.
She is currenttly an active visual artist of the group Linangan ng Kulturang Pilipino, creating socially realist artworks and murals given what is happening in the Philippines right now. She is also taking up a two-year course in fine arts at Global Knowledge, School of Arts, in Mandaluyong City, Philippines.
“I use my art to promote awareness and change in the causes and issues I strongly believe in.”
YLLANG
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
18 X 24 inch
2017