Born and raised in New York during the mid-20th century, Ann Wizer formalized her early academic and creative foundations across the United States, pursuing extensive fine arts and design studies in California and Baltimore. Driven by an active interest in the shifting landscapes of global overdevelopment, she relocated her studio practice to Asia, establishing a highly influential, cross-border presence as an environmental artist and scenographer across Tokyo, Jakarta, and Metro Manila.
Wizer’s career is defined by her pioneering work combining fine art with systemic poverty alleviation. In 2004, she founded the XSProject Foundation (Yayasan XSProject Reguna Kreasi) in Jakarta, Indonesia—a widely celebrated initiative that employs garbage dump scavengers to process single-use, non-biodegradable plastic packaging into high-quality retail products.
In 2008, she expanded her mission to the Philippines by founding Invisible Sisters in her backyard in Manila. The initiative trained hundreds of marginalized urban poor women to crochet discarded consumer plastics and electronic waste into upscale fashion pieces. Frequently exhibiting across top-tier regional institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, the Lopez Museum, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Wizer remains a vital vanguard demonstrating how creative imagination can address global ecological crises.
Exhibition & Scenographic History
Selected Individual & Milestone Conceptual Exhibitions
2010: Extra ORDINARY – Lopez Museum and Library, Benpres Bldg., Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines (A celebrated solo presentation evaluating the properties, resilience, and inner stories of archipelagic debris).
2008: Living on Loring: Manila Living at its Finest – Galleria Duemila, Pasay City, Metro Manila (A multi-media installation and photography collaboration tracking urban spatial memory).
2002: Empty Legacy: Works Made From Trash – Lontar Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (Her landmark Southeast Asian solo exhibition addressing diaspora, consumer excess, and complex environmental geographies).
1997: All Dressed Up! – Ayala Museum, Makati City, Metro Manila.
1997: Conversation Piece – Gallery III, Ayala Museum, Makati City.
Selected Institutional Group Surveys & Global Platforms
2010: Threads: 50th Anniversary Exhibition – Lopez Memorial Museum at the Rockwell Tent, Makati City (An interactive, multi-sensory installation featuring her famous upcycled textile garments alongside performance vanguards Jean Marie Syjuco and Kiri Dalena).
2009: Uncommon Sense: Trauma, Interrupted, Too – Pasilyo Vicente Manansala, Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Pasay City (Curated by Flaudette May Datuin under the House of Comfort Art Network, exploring memory, healing, and political resistance).
2009: Draped in Silk: Journey of the Manton de Manila – Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza, Makati City (Exhibited her highly critical installation Cheap and Fast (Sorry, No More Silk), using raw strings and unfinished crochet blocks to dissect the modern realities of the Filipina working class).
1996: Jamming On An Old Saya – National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Galleries, Intramuros, Manila.
Major Theater & Performance Design Collaborations
1997: Unraveling The Maya (Contemporary Dance-Theater; directed by Ramli Ibrahim) – Lead Costume & Scenic Architecture Design, Auditorium Dewan, Bandaraya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1995: Kuwento Ng Kawal (Filipino adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale; directed by Nonon Padilla) – Lead Costume, Mask, and Set Design, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City.
