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The art installations show the suffering of sugar workers and children in Negros Occidental during the Marcos dictatorship, as well as videos about Martial Law
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Fine Arts students from the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu commemorated the 52nd anniversary of Martial Law through two art pieces depicting stories of victims during the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos.
The students, who are sophomores majoring in Product Design, belong to a group called Bansai, from the Cebuano word bansay, which means skillful.
They participated in UP Cebu’s “1081 Exhibit,” with the theme “Tagubtob sa Kamatuoran (Pulse of the Truth): Remember, Reveal, Resist.”
Their first creation was a mixed media art piece called “Tigkiriwi,” a Hiligaynon word referring to starvation. During the Marcos dictatorship, sugar workers in Negros Occidental and their children experienced deadly hunger and malnutrition for years.
“I was in a theater group back in high school, and one of our performances was about the Escalante massacre in Negros. Akong gi-basa ang usa ka article about children dying due to famine in Negros. After ato, [my fellow student Xylonna Marie Antolo] came up with the form of a child that represents hunger, kay ang tigkiriwi ang type sa hunger na murag naa nay mu-kagat sa ilahang guts,” said Alexandra Lambojo, one of Bansai’s 15 members.
(I was in a theater group back in high school, and one of our performances was about the Escalante massacre in Negros. I read one article about children dying due to famine in Negros. After that, [my fellow student Xylonna Marie Antolo] came up with the form of a child that represents hunger, because tigkiriwi is the type of hunger that kind of pulls at a person’s guts.)
Antolo said they wanted to show what the children who experienced tigkiriwi felt — suffering at such a young age.
“The best way to paint a picture ani na kasakit kay ang pagpakita na murag gibira na ilahang intestines and the sculpture’s form to show pain from wires para visualize ang feeling of pain through the installation and how a child in Negros back then was just skin and bones,” she said.
(The best way to paint a picture of this kind of pain is to show an image of intestines being pulled, with a sculpted form of wires to visualize that feeling of pain in the installation and how a child in Negros back then was just skin and bones.)
Antolo added that they included sugarcane pieces to show the ironic situation of the people of Negros, who produced food but endured starvation.
Bansai’s second piece was an interactive video installation called “Li.li,” from the Cebuano word lili which means to peek.
Viewers can look into a hole inside a black box to see videos about the Marcos family during the dictator’s two-decade rule.
“We hope that the ‘Li.li’ art installation creates an impact on those who visit the exhibit na mura sad ka ug ma-pull to revisit, and [it is] a way of revealing what the Marcos family did,” said Antolo.
(We hope that the “Li.li” art installation creates an impact on those who visit the exhibit, in a way that it pulls them to revisit, and [it is] a way of revealing what the Marcos family did.)
Bansai shared that it took them only five days to complete both art pieces. It was their first time to create art installations as a group. – Rappler.com
