Socialite Victoria “Vicky” Zubiri is not coy about her age. At 79, her perfectly oval face is creaseless and her jawline is firm. Her secret: happy family life and painting.

Zubiri is having an exhibit of 25 paintings, done during the pandemic, on the invitation of restaurateur Trish Panlilio at nawwTy’s Kitchen at the Makati Tuscany on Ayala Avenue until June 18. Panlilio curated the exhibit, titled “Art and Luxe Comfort Food.”

This is Zubiri’s fourth solo exhibit, painting with one eye. In 2004, she underwent a surgery at the Stanford Medical Center in California to take out a brain tumor that pushed her left eye out. While traveling in Paris, she still felt extreme pain on the weak eye. Returning to Stanford, the assisting doctors of her neurosurgeon told her that the 2.5-cm brain tumor was not removed. Moreover, the nerves connected to the eye and ear had been damaged by the previous surgery.

Yet despite the disability and the chronic headaches, she remains bubbly and giggly.

Zubiri has been painting since the ’70s. She took a short course at the San Francisco Academy of Art and Chinese painting at the Ateneo Confucius Institute under Hau Chiok and Cesar Cheng. She studied Western watercolor with Johnny Ventosa, and acrylic painting under Fidel Sarmiento at Sunshine Place Senior Hub.

Abstractions

With her limited vision, she indulges in abstractions and likewise paints from her memory. Occasionally she looks at still life photos sent by her friends. As in her previous exhibits, the paintings are like her visual memoir. One painting depicts a capiz window above the ventanilla (small carved opening) on a blue wall, referencing the Quiapo home of her granduncle, composer Francisco Santiago.

A world traveler, she depicts her favorite places: a house along the beach of an Italian seacoast town, a lady in a turban and skirt against an orange sky in Africa, Indians in front of the colorful houses in Rajasthan, the rocky shore in the south of France, a naked man walking on a Batangas beach, waterfalls in Laguna and the cliffs of Batanes.

She cites the painting of the sailboat as her most symbolic work. ”It represents freedom,” she says. “Tango,” a painting of a couple dancing, is a memory of her ballroom dancing days with friends at Savannah Moon dance club.

Artistic

Zubiri hails from a well-to-do family. Her father, Dr. Manuel Fernandez Sr., was known as the Father of Philippine Dermatology and was one of the cofounders of Makati Medical Center. Her mother, Rosita Ocampo, was a coloratura soprano who exposed her to the Philippine masters in visual arts.

Zubiri was a gold medalist in Assumption grade school and a scholar in high school.

Her husband of 61 years, Jose “Joe” Zubiri Jr., former Bukidnon governor and solon, fell in love with her photograph in a newspaper. “My face was surrounded by Gregg shoes,” she said. Gregg was a famous shoe brand in the mid-20th century.

He searched for her and invited her to a date at the Ateneo-La Salle basketball game. The La Sallite continued to pursue her when she went to a finishing school in Madrid. She returned to Assumption for college, but after her sophomore year, the couple got married. She was 18 and he was 22.

She is proud of her five children—Jose III, Manuel, Senate President Miguel, Beatrice and host/editor Stephanie—and her 12 grandchildren.

In the ‘90s, the artistic Zubiri teamed up with designer Victoria Lopez and opened a fashion boutique, Victoria 2, at the first Greenbelt Mall. “I went to the homes of famous ladies and took their measurements. We had shows in Paris, China, Japan and London,” she recalls.

In the 21st century, Zubiri was busy with her advocacies and art while struggling with her disability. “I have had an exciting life,” she says with a giggle. “Most important, Joe and I are still together. It’s an old-age love affair.”