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Towards the center: Rebirthing the women artists

By MERCY DULAWAN

Not a meaningless touch, the “pat on the back” women artists gave each other at the conclusion of the recently held First Northern Luzon Women Visual Artists’ Conference-Workshop leaves an indelible (re)birthmark, to remind them of their rebirthing experience.

Made possible by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and The Global Fund for Women, the conference was organized by the Grupong Damili, with the UP Baguio Kasarian Gender Studies Program and the Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary on March 10 to 12.

The gathering became an extraordinarily potent venue for the meeting of mind, soul and heart among women artists. Mentors like Brenda Fajardo, Alma Quinto, Karen Flores, Luchi Ticzon and Liza Ann Acevedo-llagan shared their expertise and retold their own art and life stories. The interchange held magical power over each participant. In the end, it was the mentor who thanked everyone for the experience she labeled a “gift,” a special present in her “new” life.

Unlike the metaphorical “Karayom” in Alma Quinto’s presentations, the sharing substantiated by other personages in Baguio City like Prof. Reynaldo Rovillos of UP Baguio Kasarian, Atty. Lulu Tabanda of the Balikatan sa Kaunlaran Baguio, Baguio City vice mayor Reinaldo Bautista, Sr. Margarita Jamias of the Maryknoll Baguio Community and Madam Divina Bautista of the International Delphic Council, connected each strand to create a tapestry reflective of the participants’ present perspectives and future visions, clearer, yet ever transforming; and prophetic in its perceptions for growth as a distinct group as well as part of the larger art scene.

Evoked from the three-day gathering was the artists’ reclaiming of their “babaylan” status as life-shapers, memory-keepers, nature-preservers and healers. Most importantly, the artists expressed the power of their art as acts of love, caring for one another, and as powerful tools for consciousness awakening.

As Rovillos put it, “The women artists are now reclaiming and proclaiming their rightful space in the male-dominated world of mainstream art and in society as a whole. I find the exhibit’s theme, ‘Rebirthing the Woman’, a very appropriate theme. I take this to mean that women artists want to (re)define ‘woman’ beyond the constricting stereotypes by society. This shows that women artists are shifting the discourse, from the periphery towards the center.”

Towards the center, the group led their other friends from other art disciplines. The Tanghalang Bayan ng Kabataan (Tabak-Baguio) and the UP Tayaw, Jennifer Patricia Cariño as composer/singer/poet, friends from the Pi Sigma and Pi Sigma Delta with Prof. Toto Colongon, Joanne Sotto and Portia Aquino, the SALiVV group led by Raffy Kapuno, whose musical beats and rhythms struck deep and soulful heartstrings.

Our gustatory buds were stimulated by a taste of traditional “chocolate eh”, made by a process valued and practiced during the Rizal era. Mr. Jojo Castro demonstrated the “Batirol” method of chocolate making.

The art exhibit dubbed as “Rebirthing the Woman II” at Maryknoll Sanctuary Gallery will be there until April 11. The artworks made by the participants during the conference remain to be expressed little by little in many different ways.

Kudos to all who joined the conference. Bless yourself. Place your right palm on your nape and say, “Believe in yourself”; your palm over your head and say, “Celebrate your gift”; and on your forehead, with the words, “Dwell in your creativity.” #

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