Introduction and interview Gabbie de la Cruz
Images Manila Illustration Fair (MIF)
Three years in, and the Manila Illustration Fair has drawn its own reputation. Often running for three days, the MIF setting is one of self-decorated artist booths and original merchandise, a crowd of people holding tight to freshly secured stickers and prints, and creative noise from a room full of strangers in awe of the same illustrations at once. Most times, you’d find the artist themselves watching, a little stunned every time someone lights up over work they poured months into. Somewhere along the way, the platform has transitioned from a space built to showcase art to one that’s worth showing up for.
So when MIF announced that it wouldn’t be mounting a fair in 2026, questions followed close behind: Will the fair return? Will it change form? Between its involvement in the Southeast Asian Illustration Council and its recent “anu-ano by MIF” alumni spotlight at Purveyr Fair 2026, the team has found that sustaining a community sometimes means pausing to keep going. Executive director Ross Du walks us through the decision, what’s changed behind the scenes, and what to expect when MIF turns a new page in 2027.
Hi Ross! How are you? What was the last thing you drew?
Hi Kanto! We’ve been busy given the recent mounting of anu-ano by MIF at Purveyr Fair 2026, but I’ve been finding time for other pursuits, of course! The last thing I drew was a set of ponies for my 4-year-old niece. Does that count? Haha!
anu-ano by MIF spotlights MIF’s alumni from 2023 to 2025. What made the team want to look back at illustrators who’ve already passed through MIF, rather than introduce new names via Purveyr Fair 2026?
The decision to join an existing fair instead of mounting another MIF is aligned with our broader vision of bringing illustration to new audiences. We wanted to use this opportunity to continue supporting the MIF community while exploring a more sustainable way of creating platforms for Filipino illustrators.
While MIF is an annual showcase and exhibit for featured illustrators to show their work, Anu-ano by MIF is a market subbrand of MIF, with the goal of sustainably platforming the talent of the MIF illustrators through a market pop-up. It is not meant to replace the MIF fair, but to complement our annual programming and create more ways for us to support the community beyond the main event.
We’ve explored this approach before through Bagay-bagay, another MIF initiative that brought together MIF alumni for an exhibit alongside talks and knowledge-sharing sessions.
There is a wealth of talent from our past three years of MIF, and we want to continue to spotlight our community to the general public. Joining Purveyr Fair allowed us to showcase just how much Filipino and Southeast Asian talent we have been able to host in Manila.
Townhomes by MIF featuring art by MIF alumni JC Delic, RD Daniel, Hey Mady! and Jill Arteche
How did you design anu-ano by MIF to carry forward the same community-building spirit the fair has always stood for? How was reception?
People came by the booth and supported the artists! We took Purveyr Fair 2026 as an opportunity to create deeper connections with those who are already in the room. If we truly want to champion the illustration scene, we have to continue to platform existing talent, not always look for the next big thing.
anu-ano by MIF is our way of giving our alumni another opportunity to be in the spotlight while continuing to make space for new and upcoming talent. This aligns with MIF’s return in March 2027, where we look forward to welcoming new artists into the community alongside returning ones.
anu-ano by MIF at Purveyr Fair, with Townhomes by MIF featuring art by Alyssa Babasa (babsilog) and haranikala
Take us on a retrospective of MIF’s journey. Was there a moment where it felt like the fair had become exactly what it set out to be?
The vision of Manila Illustration Fair has remained the same, but the goal has just kept getting bigger every year since. It was around 4 hours into the first day of our first year handling MIF (after Dan Matutina passed down MIF to us in 2024, the first batch of Manila Illustration Fair exhibitors), that we felt like MIF had become exactly what it was meant to be.
After seeing how the event-goers navigated each featured illustrator’s booth, talked to them about their themes and inspirations, and made multiple rounds to make sure they could really take it all in, the team felt confident that we were successful with the goals we set out. Our talks and workshops, and the market space itself, felt so alive with a love for illustration and with awe and excitement towards the beautiful work that our featured artists have put out.
Seeing that happen made us realize there was still so much more we could do.
Behind that view of creativity coming alive and a community connecting through art is a lot of unseen labor that is rarely shared. What’s a part of organizing MIF that the public never really sees?
Six months before the event itself, the core team meets once a week to align on tasks and do accountability checks on how work has progressed. It is a lot of discussion and decision-making before everything comes together. We’re mostly illustrators and illustration lovers turned event organizers. I believe that more than anything else, it’s how we choose to constantly figure it all out, simply because of our passion to build the illustration community at our core.
Was there a specific turning point where the team recognized 2026 needed to look different?
We realized in MIF 2025 that while we have been successful thus far, we need to create a more sustainable way to organize the fair.
We decided to take a break to be more thoughtful about our plans and how we want MIF to move forward. For us, success isn’t just about mounting an event every year; it’s also about making sure we have the capacity to sustain it and continue building it for the long term.
“Sustain” is a keyword in recurring events like MIF. Any realizations on which aspects you’d like to change as the fair evolves?
MIF has operated on a volunteer basis for the past few years, and while we’re proud of what we’ve been able to build this way, we’ve also realized that it isn’t a sustainable model long-term. We’ve realized that if we are to continue to champion the illustration community, we need to think more actively about how the work behind MIF is funded and supported.
That’s something we’re currently finding solutions for so we can continue creating meaningful opportunities for illustrators and the wider creative community.
Photos from Manila Illustration Fair over the years
Growing MIF as a platform also means widening its roster of artists and general community. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the fair is now part of the Southeast Asian Illustration Council. What does this involvement mean in practice?
The Southeast Asian Illustration Council is a group composed of the leaders of the active illustration fairs all around Southeast Asian cities. What we’ve done so far is share knowledge of how we organize our markets in our respective cities and countries and establish a connection of support with each other, both online and in-person.
Given this connection, we hope to continue to dream up and create projects that could strengthen the bridges we’ve built and generate more success within the Southeast Asian illustration community.
Will MIF and other participating fairs be receiving support such as funding under this wider ASEAN community?
Right now, it’s mostly visibility and knowledge-sharing. The main goal of the council is to encourage our local communities to visit and exhibit in each other’s countries, aiming to showcase our culture and values as people through the work we create. We also discuss wins and supply each other with advice, especially when dealing with similar struggles on the logistics and operations side.
Having sat with this shift, what do you imagine the next edition of MIF will look like? Has this pause changed anything about how the fair will run going forward?
We’re aiming for the next MIF to be bigger and better! We’re hoping to do this by partnering with like-minded organizations that can help us towards our bigger goals. We also hope to bring more high-quality illustrations from the Philippines and Southeast Asia to Metro Manila soon.
We want to continue to platform quality, human-made work and make ample space for both current and upcoming talents. Ultimately, we hope to give all illustrators fair turns to have time to be in the spotlight. •
