Maxine Syjuco is a poet and visual artist from Manila, Philippines. She is the youngest daughter of internationally renowned artists Cesare and Jean Marie Syjuco. Labeled “The Madonna of Philippine Literature” by poet and performance artist Vim Nadera, Maxine has received critical acclaim for her experimental mixed-media assemblages-- each an intrepid fusion of poetry and visual art.

Working largely with photography, painting, sculpture and installation, her work possesses a philosophical and often twisted voice in storytelling-- a voice that speaks of the intricacies tangled in human darkness and frailty.

Eliciting an amalgam of emotion and inevitable contemplation, Maxine’s art-- often described as “visual narratives”-- reveals stories of the human condition stripped to its very core-- unmasked, unraveled, and untamed.

Her first book of poetry, A Secret Life, was published in 2008 and was praised by critics as “avant-garde and dangerous; an important selection in Philippine literature” (Rogue Magazine). Her poems have since been translated into Polish and French, and have seen print in several international anthologies including the Asia Literary Review, The Poets Guild Quarterly, Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse, The Best of Southeast Asian Poetry, and the Rhino International Poetry Anthology.

Maxine’s exhibitions and poetry-performances have taken place in venues as varied as the Hangaram Art Museum, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, the Ayala Museum, the Yuchengco Museum, the Lopez Museum, the Museum of Cebu, art galleries, universities, libraries, and even public streets and parks.

To date, Maxine’s works can be found in the esteemed collections of art enthusiasts, gallerists, art collectors, and prestigious institutions (the most recent of which being the Central Bank of the Philippines).