The Lady and the Unicorn

wonder | wander | women don't often speak of going on a pilgrimage. Many of our family have been on the Camino di Santiago, and in 2001 we celebrated the Maha Kumbh Mela with our community in India. A trip to a museum doesn't seem comparable at first, but in the days of modern travel more people embark on a cultural pilgrimage, to see Charles Dickens' house or Karl Marx's grave or the Museé du Louvre.

wild wonders & noble beasts

Last week, we joined the world to celebrate International Museum Day under the theme Museums Uniting a Divided World. 

We proudly posted our hometown island's museum with a majestic artwork of a three-ton carabao at its entrance. The water buffalo is the national mammal of the Philippines. The shockingly sad reality today is the carabao is slowly disappearing from our country's agricultural landscape. 

BAO: the unbowed carabao at The Negros Museum

A new exhibition at the Philippine National Museum of Natural History located in a niche at the landing on the fifth level is a family of carabaos from Nueva Ecija that was especially prepared by the museum’s taxidermists and scientists. 

feed our thirst & fill us up with heART

On a recent lakwatcha adventure to Iloilo wonder | wander | women spent our days exploring art studios, galleries and museums. Viewing the displays and exhibits fed our thirst for wonder and filled is with insight and inspiration - enough to tide us over until another visit. 

We were missing this sorely the past year - collections of art purposely displayed to enhance its beauty so it spills over to us - its viewers and appreciative audience. 

March 2026 line up at IloMOCA

Crammed into only a few days spared, all the visual overload and creative overstimulation overcame us in a fevered frenzy. Images flying by our flickering lids left us gasping and breathless. Filling our senses to overflowing - our proverbial cups running over in generous waves of delight and awe. 

Yoko Ono: kindred spirit

wonder | wander | women love birthdays, especially our own. Crossing the threshold of every year gives new cause for celebration, reflection, and inspiration. And as we toast ourselves and prepare for the year ahead, we look back on our collective experiences, absorbing them and creating our new, future selves.

Entrance and Wish Trees

hanging out at the British Museum

wonder | wander | women are endlessly fascinated by the British Museum. We're very aware of the dark history of the museum and how many of the objects simply state that they are "acquired" without telling the full story: captured from conquered nations, stolen from tribes, bought for a song from invading officers, or even pocketed in passing during expeditions. 

main entrance

Cute Exhibition at Somerset House

The viral exhibition Cute was in its last week a few days ago at Somerset House. wonder | wander | women have always been fascinated by kawaii culture since Hello Kitty and FRUITS Magazine, so we joined our friends and their excited kids for a wander through Cute land.

Cute exhibition header from Somerset House, created via AI

Ainu Stories at Japan House

The Ainu are a Japanese indigenous people living mainly in Hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture of Japan. They have lived for centuries in the north of Japan, not only in Hokkaido but also in northern Honshu, Karafuto (which the Ainu call Sakhalin) and the Kuril islands. Their language is unrelated to Japanese and Ainu culture is very distinct from Wajin, or ethnic Japanese.

Trailer for Ainu Stories at Japan House

El Anatsui at the Tate Modern

One of the most famous museums in the world, London's Tate Modern was once a massive coal power plant that supplied power to the City of London and the Southbank. Since it was turned into a museum of modern art, the Tate Modern's impressive Turbine Hall provides the perfect space for ambitious contemporary artists wanting to create monumental work.

Technicians installing El Anatsui's The World

Paris in the springtime

 ...was wet, grey, freezing, and yet somehow still romantic.

Last March 2019 wonder | wander | women landed in Paris to see the Anting-anting exhibition in the Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, and spent a week wandering the city's museums.

love letter to London

In a previous post, wonder | wander | women talked about taking online art courses as a way to get through art block and gain new illustration skills. One of those courses asked students to pick a city we wanted to illustrate, and I - naturally - chose London.

Looking at St Paul's Cathedral and the London skyline
from the South Bank

Statues of the Louvre

We're feeling nostalgic this week, so it's a good time to share memories of that lovely city across the water - Paris! Specifically, its crown jewel the Louvre Museum.

East Asian treasures of the Met

Can you be homesick for an aesthetic? Growing up Southeast Asian in a family of Chinese descent, wonder | wander | women often feel culturally deprived in our Western homes. 

Mural of Yaoshi Fo, Buddha of medicine
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Wallace Collection - a mansion of elegance

Recently wonder | wander | women were lucky enough to introduce some beloved relatives to one of their favourite museums, the Wallace Collection.

Wallace Collection entrance. Photo by Anthony O'Neil via Wikipedia

British Library presents: Buddhism

The British Library unveils a diverse and vibrant perspective on Buddhism with its new exhibition. wonder | wander | women couldn't wait to see this amazing collection for ourselves.

The birth of Prince Siddhartha, woodblock print, China, 1808

East looks West: Orientalism (part 2)

Last year wonder | wander | women talked about the Western perspective in the British Museum's Orientalism exhibition. Western artists went to Istanbul, Morocco and other Near Eastern cities to capture their beauty and atmosphere, and create a special world from their visits and visions. But many Islamic diplomats and nobility were also travelling and learning in the West, and Islamic artists produced visions of their own.

Artist's depiction of French court dress,
exaggerating the cuffs, wigs and flared coats

More Than Human exhibition

Even as artificial intelligence dominates the news, it still mystifies the average person. Machine learning, big data, neural networks...how does it all fit into the workaday and interior life of humans? 

TeamLAB's What A Loving and Beautiful World

Anno Mitsumasa, part 2

We've talked about Anno Mitsumasa's whimsical sense of humour and Western-influenced travel books. This week we look at the illustrator's more traditional work, his sense of drama and awareness of scenic beauty.

Anno Mitsumasa at Japan House

Illustrator Anno Mitsumasa has been creating beloved children's books with incredible detail and a gentle sense of humour since the 1960s. wonder | wander | women were enthralled by his show Anno's Journey in Japan House this past week.

Courtesy of Japan House

pre-birthday reflections

Before we know it another year has passed and a milestone birthday looms. It's time to reflect over the past year and start building the new one. What will I bring to this next decade of my life?

Archeology Goes Graphic at the Louvre

The Petite Galerie in the Louvre is a fully accessible exhibition space designed to introduce new and inclusive audiences to the broad themes of the famous museum. This year's theme is particularly close to the heart of wonder | wander | women : relating archeology to graphic novels.