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Pagtali. Pagtahi. Pagbuo. (Tying. Sewing. Putting together). Ten years ago, these were the terms Alfredo Juan Aquilizan used to describe the practice he shares with his wife, Maria Isabel Gaudinez-Aquilizan. In the decade since that time the ethical and aesthetic underpinnings of their work have remained steady, while the couple has become an almost ubiquitous presence on the international biennial/triennial circuit, with an impressive rollcall of major exhibitions, including Fukuoka, Venice, Havana, Sydney, Gwangju, Busan, Adelaide, Singapore and again, this year, Brisbane ...

Art like theirs occupies the moral heart of the APT. Invariably it conjures, as it is meant to, memories and impressions unique and personal to the viewer, even though one hesitates to detail them because it is hard to speak of such things without resorting to clich´s and generalities. Nevertheless, I am happy to take the risk and reveal that the meticulously folded textiles that constitute the Dream blanket project, 2002–, gently remind me of my Irish grandmother's linen closet, sweetly scented and perfectly arranged (so unlike my own) . The 'house' the Aquilizans built for their installation Address in the 2008 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, in which they arranged their belongings to form enclosing 'walls', recalls Sunday walks in central Hong Kong, past thousands of Filipino domestic workers during their day off, where they socialise, gossip, write letters, cook, sing, give each other manicures, all the while occupying temporary shelters made from cardboard and decorated with tablecloths, family photographs and flowers ...

As part of the current project, the artists have been conducting workshops with children (and their chaperones)  since 2007, inviting them to make model planes from the humblest and flimsiest materials, from things cast-off, superfluous and unwanted. Wooden paddle-pop sticks (coloured and plain), pegs, matchsticks, plastic bottles and containers, off-cuts, bottle caps, cardboard scraps and boxes, lengths of cane, recycled thongs, fabric scraps, outmoded computer components, twine, ribbon, wool, miscellaneous found materials including dolls, toy snakes, musical instruments, sunglasses, jewellery: all hand-picked and combined in simple and ingenious ways to form a monumental and fantastic swarm. So magical are these objects, so imbued with human hope and talent, that it is possible to believe in their actual capacity for flight ...

This article appears in excerpted form. You can read the entire article in Art & Australia's Summer 2009 issue.