Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi

Her 2020 exhibition, Allegories and Realities, a retrospective of Gelvezon-Tequi's half a century-long career featured 219 of her works, including a series of lesser known silk paintings.

Gelvezon-Tequi has lived in many places, including Hanoi and Boracay. Since 2005, Gelvezon-Tequi has lived with her husband, Marc Téqui, in the rural village of Limeuil, France where, in the 1990s, they bought a 17th-century house built on top of a 13th-century cellar. In France, she enjoys gardening vegetables, including a native Filipino mountain variety of kangkong, for her grandchildren to eat as well as growing flowers.

Gelvezon-Tequi has also spoken about the importance the concept of justice and giving voice to the voiceless plays in her art. Some of her pieces are blatantly political, including one depicting a former Philippine president wearing a virtual reality headset, oblivious to the impoverished material reality faced by the woman and children who stand nearby, in the background. A set of 1987 highly-political triptychs entitled Homage to Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Homage II to Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Homage III to Ambrogio Lorenzetti contrasts the virtues of benevolent rulers, good governments, and the social prosperity these create with the vices of tyrannical leaders, their dysfunctional governments, and the dystopian social situations created as a result.

Gelvezon-Tequi graduated from the University of Philippines-Diliman with degrees in English (1966) and Fine Arts (1964). She continued her education at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, earning a diploma in painting in 1967. A scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled her to study graphic arts at the Pratt Institute.

Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi (born June 4, 1944) is a Filipina visual artist based in France. She works primarily in the media of painting and printmaking and is considered a pioneer in Philippine printmaking. Her prints are created using copper-plate etching and viscosity color printing techniques.

Gelvezon-Tequi was born June 4, 1944, in Guimbal, Iloilo, Philippines. Her family moved around during her childhood due to her father's employment in the Philippine Army. During her childhood she lived in Paco, Iloilo, and Lucena.