BY JAY BAUTISTA |
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| Agam-Agam by Chris Inton, Oil on Canvas, 2016. |
In 1906, fifteen
Filipinos from Ilocos Sur were recruited to work as pineapple pickers in Hawaii
starting what would be known as the Philippine
diaspora purposely migrating around the world today. Either alone or with family
in tow--for family, money, pride, or some as simple as fulfilling a dream of
being on an airplane--more than 3,000 of our countrymen depart our airports every
day, year after year, for more than hundred years now.
Forming part of
the amalgam of 10 million Filipinos sprawling worldwide, sparsely positioned Filipinos
work in some of the most difficult, obscure and time consuming industries that
test their skills and commitment for other people’s progress and welfare. As
doctors, physical therapists, nurses, IT professionals, engineers, architects,
technicians, teachers and seafarers whatever complicated, dirty, nitty gritty
job for the taking, a kababayan is
there.
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| Fragile by Oliver Menor, Mixed Media on Canvas |
Bagahe is our ongoing collective story in an adapted/adopted land.
Gathering some
of the more promising visual artists in Singapore Bagahe
is both call and a reply. At a time when newly induced Philippine pride is
spreading around the world emanating from sports, beauty pageants, art
biennales and that recent premier episode Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, Bagahe foretells our
unkempt and honed tales from this cosmopolitan city—ironies, maladies, and
drudgeries. Singapore as a context affects their artistry can both be
conflicting and liberating. To imbibe a sense of artistic urge within the
confines of strict and contained art practice.
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| Sayed Alwi by Dario Bunyi Tibay, Oil on Canvas, 2016 |
The dilemma of
the personal and the social ensues and further entangles intertwining at the
top of the heads of Filipinos as it dangles like a sword of Damocles awaiting
its fateful fall. Agam agam by Chris
Inton affirms this predicament: if
I leave there would be trouble, and if I stay it would be double. So come on,
let me know. As it was then, it is instinct that one leaves the comfortable
habitats for greener pastures. Sacrificing one’s self, the promise of a better
future for one’s family cannot be resisted. To buy that home for our parents
who restlessly rented all their lives; to purchase that land your family have
been tilling in the hopes of not paying its lease for our forebears. To send our
children to the best education in the fervent wish that they will have their
own business for you to return back home. The rope in the canvas exemplifies
our strength and resilience, our bondage and our continuing struggle for
survival is highlighted in Fragile
by Oliver Menora. He adds: separated from our families and our roots, we are
fragile in a foreign country. We are like blank canvases hoping for brighter
images for our lives.
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| Outsider by Jasmin Orosa, Mixed Media on Canvas |
Residing
temporarily in a foreign abode remains the toughest challenge for an OFW as he
feels more than an expatriate. Acculturation must draw first blood. Such is the
message of Sayed Alwi by Dario Bunyi
Tibay. Comparing the OFWs as earth-bound astronauts, they acclimatize
themselves and bring their “environment” to where they are.
Bagahe is what one acquires from one’s current stay. Loaded with
real experience, all preconceived notions are met with blank wall or canvas in
this instance. Outsider by Jasmin Orosa is such. Meticulously done wherein one's forehead
is marked by emotions and sentiments. Her right hand ached by labors. Left hand throbs
from deflecting blows. Shoulders ready to carry more loads. Although not all
are lucky, some comeback shortly after sudden eclipse of homesickness, others
will never use the luggage they brought when they departed their hometown.
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| Mindscapes by Wilfredo Calderon, Watercolor on Paper |
Bagahe could well be that one inimitable luxurious artistic
baggage. It is what you bring to your point of destination from your point of
origin—culture, perspective and memory. Mindscapes
(Memories of My Childhood) by
Wilfredo Calderon is about memories from his youth. It depicts his childhood
and all the things that he loved and how he used to play with nature as my
playground. Most of these artworks took as much time as when he first got in
Singapore.
Strawberry Road in My Mind by Noel Rosales best captures everyone’s sentiment. Orchard Road is both a representation of the tension for both affluence and conflict. People don’t realize the void of incomes passing just through them—from employers to their loved ones in Manila. It is a struggle to keep sanity and dignity intact. Before you know it, it’s time to go home.
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| Strawberry Road in My Mind by Noel Rosales, Acrylic on Canvas |
Unlike their
obliged regular remittances to their mother country, just once this Bagahe is going back to them.
Initiated in 2007 SininGapor Art Collective is composed of writers, graphic designers, and artists from the Lion City. Bagahe is their fifth group exhibition.
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