This Is Not A Corner Store Dominic Zinampan
On 4 December 2020, the Papaya Shop, a project of Green Papaya Art Projects, was officially launched on Instagram (@greenpapaya.shop). Developed towards the end of a tremendously difficult year marked by various tragedies on top of the global pandemic and the worsening political situation in the country, the shop signals Papaya’s resolve to persist, despite having decided to close numerous times in the past. Papaya, the Philippines’s longest-running independent and multidisciplinary platform, was founded on 1 May 2000 by Donna Miranda and Norberto “Peewee” Roldan primarily as an exhibition space before broadening its range of activities. It has organised screenings, gigs, discussions, performances, and off-site projects, initiated collaborations, facilitated residencies for local and international artists, and developed special projects like publications. In 2017, Papaya decided that it would close on its 20th anniversary and, in preparation, started working closely with the Asia Art Archive (AAA) to archive its materials. Although the date of closing had been moved to 2021 prior to the pandemic, it has since been postponed indefinitely in light of the devastating turn of events. Aside from an exhibition to celebrate its 20th year, Papaya had aimed to get a section of its archives uploaded on the AAA website within the year, as well as publish two books on the Visayas Islands and Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon), the country’s longest-running artistsrun biennial which Peewee co-founded in 1990. However, on
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