The waves of Balut kiss the hills of Cadalian in "Red Carpet, Blue Blanket." The inaugural exhibit of the Daro Art Immersion Program by Lawig-Diwa, Inc. opens at the Poblacion Market Central.
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| Constancio Baes, Hectares of Hope; Michelle Ventosa, Metrobank; Kublai Milla, Lawig Diwa, Inc.; JOlla Soriaga, Alsodev; Renee Eriquez, BFAR-XI |
Emerging artists from all over Mindanao were taken out of their studios and given the chance to experience first-hand the realities of two livelihood communities at the very margins of the island.
Toti Alave of Kidapawan City, Oshien Lopez of Cagayan de Oro City, Jhonrey Balane and Adriel Galleposo of Lantapan, Bukidnon, Jhonblyn Guangco of Surigao City, Ams Tolentino of Trento, Agusan del Sur, Janine Magbanua of General Santos City, and Rey Ursabia of Tagum City lived for a week among farmers in Hectares of Hope, in upland Barangay Cadalian of Davao City's remote Baguio District .
Merly Joy Labas of Butuan City, Joeff Jamalul and Christiano Cueno of Zamboanga City, Mary Jane Umac of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, Melanie Caballes and James Santia of Tagum City, Cling Vega and Jeric Caasalan of Iligan City got a glimpse of the lives of fisherfolk from Balut Island in the country's maritime border town with Indonesia, the Municipality of Sarangani, Davao Occidental.
The exhibit is the culmination of these artists' time with the livelihood communities, their lived experiences showcased as art that went through thorough and in depth conceptual and stylistic polishing from Daro's pool of mentors.
The artists who dived into the land with the farmers celebrate the rich red earth of Cadalian, which has sustained the lives of its local Klata and Monuvu community for generations. The steep and rugged earthen roads literally shook the artists as they went up, offering them a red carpet welcome into the terrain's overwhelming but fertile immensity.
The artists who plowed the sea with the fisherfolk, on the other hand, celebrate the warm azure of the Sarangani Strait, by which mercy the Sangil, Blaan, Tausug, and Manobo community have been at for centuries. The artists got to experience for themselves how these diverse peoples and the shores of the islands they live on are tucked in and lullabyed into a shared dreaming, the sea a nurturing but endless blanket of possibilities constantly rippling to its own abundant rhythm.
Harvesting that hidden hospitality, hooking that hope and sense of home, we bring together what these artists' imaginations have plucked and reeled in, what their hands have threshed and filleted - fresh, ripe, and full of vitality.
Have a taste of their creative bounty.
Daro Art Immersion Program of Lawig-Diwa Inc. is made possible through our partnership with Metrobank Foundation, Inc. and Metrobank Art and Design Excellence supported by BFAR XI and Hectares of Hope.
(PR)
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