The Painted Lady: MapúaMCM’s Former MMA Student’s Work Featured on PhotoVogue Italia

On May 19, 2020, 21-year-old artist and Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao’s former Multimedia Arts student, Joseph Bermúdez, had his photography featured in PhotoVogue Italia— a high-end fashion photography platform wherein hundreds and thousands of photographers and their works get specially chosen to be featured on the site. 

Joseph Bermúdez took this as an opportunity to try his luck at getting his photography featured and together with his schoolmate, Trisha Xandra Atanosa — 19-year-old upcoming Third Year Multimedia Arts student and Model of the project — they were able to come up with The Painted Lady, a set of fashion photos that Joseph had sent in to PhotoVogue Italia various times since last year. 

“It’s really hard to predict if your photos will be accepted because of how well curated Vogue Italia is. They are open to all photographic genres, from portrait to reportage, from fashion to street photography.”

This did not stop Joseph and eventually, after several attempts, the editorial staff of Vogue Italia accepted his pieces. 

The full gallery of Joseph and Trisha’s work can be seen on PhotoVogue Italia’s website here. 

Joseph speaks on how his creative work is predominantly inspired by films, and thus his visual storytelling and execution stem from this fascination with cult-classic films. He explains, 

“The Painted Lady portrays gender fluidity, femininity, and softness. Visual elements were taken from Wong Kar Wai’s Chow-Mo Wan Trilogy.”

Trisha Xandra Atanosa also shares her experience working with Joseph and how easy it is due to his patience and passion for the project. Joseph, on the other hand, handpicked Trisha specifically for this project, sharing how he loves how her features don’t overpower the frame.   

Both students feel very honored to be a part of such a heartfelt passion project and to be featured in such a world-renowned publication. For Joseph, he shares his thoughts on the benefits of such an achievement and how his art has helped him. 

“As a fashion photographer, you won’t know where your hard work ends up. Creating images helped me tell stories about what’s going on internally. My photographs are mostly passion projects and unconventional imagery. To be honest, my art is an acquired taste. Being part of Vogue Italia, at least, digitally, has helped strengthen my portfolio as an artist and it makes me feel content.”

Trisha expresses her gratitude and how this experience has truly helped her realize that dreams are possible to achieve, so long as you act on them.

“I’m very honored to be able to take part in this project with Joch (Joseph). Vogue was once just a dream that I thought I couldn’t grasp, but I realized that achieving that dream would only be possible if I started acting on it. I prayed for this day to happen and clearly the Lord is listening because look at us now. This experience helped me see that other than the course I am taking now (BMMA), there’s also plenty of other opportunities I could take outside of my preferred profession. Joch (Joseph) helped me step out of my comfort zone and see my potential and I am forever grateful for that.”

For whatever is in store beyond graduation, Trisha mentions how grateful she is for the institution’s facilities in preparing its students and helping them enhance and practice their skills. Joseph equally expresses gratitude towards his previous alma mater, Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao, and how through its innovative and progressive community, it has helped him develop better repertoires for his art. 

With such support and help from the MapúaMCM Community, Joseph shares what he misses most about the institution — the community, his classmates from MMA (Multimedia Arts), and getting to work on class projects such as documentaries. 

Take a look at Joseph Bermúdez’ works through his PhotoVogue Italia portfolio here and his Instagram portfolio here. 

This coming May 23, Joseph will also be featured for Mercado Vicente — a multidisciplinary creative index and global platform for Filipinx artists all over the world. Catch his work in the newly released Volume 2 of their creative index on May 23, 10am PHT, here.