The Blossoming of the Baji

Late February, a call for visual and literary artists to partake in an all-Boholana multi-arts exhibition to celebrate women’s month and weave a collective story of the Boholana was echoed via intrapersonal and social media. An artwork by a Boholana, by blood or by heart – this was the only basic criterion for submissions. No specific theme. No preferred genre. No screening team. Just pure art. Pure Boholana.

Two weeks later, on the eve of the International Women’s Day, Baji: An All-Boholana Arts Exhibit opened its doors to the Bol-anon public – unveiling the diversity of the response and creating an exuberant narrative of the baji’ng Bol-anon in words, pictures and pixels – 40 artists and over 80 artworks.

At the unveiling of the Baji, Hon. Board Member Godofreda O. Tirol, Chair of the SP Committee on Women & Family Affairs, in helping launch the exhibit, has just read Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman in her Women’s Month message. As the guests were formally ushered into the exhibition after a stirring opening ritual by a few of the exhibiting artists, along came wafting through, greeting the crowd,  Phenomenal Woman’s “Now you understand / Just why my head’s not bowed.”

I am Boholana: “Now you understand / Just why my head’s not bowed.”

Hermogena “Nene” Lungay, matriarch of Bol-anon visual arts, headlines the exhibit with her latest obra “Hara sa Kinampay” (Oil on Canvass, 2011), an impressionist imagining of Bohol’s famed ube kinampay culture and the Bol-anons’ almost religious veneration to the aromatic purple yam.

Ma’am Nene is known to be very generous with discussing the creative process and meaning of her works. In her inspiration message, she wholeheartedly affirmed her support to the empowerment of the Bohol Baji artists and all Boholanas, in general, and highlighted the importance of keeping the torch going, with the younger ones especially.

Cagayan-de-Oro-based Loay-born Palanca laureate poet/journalist Lina Sagaral-Reyes liberally lends her name and works in the literary section of the Baji exhibit. Four poems from her poetry anthology ‘Storya and Other Poems (1993) are on display – “About the Princess”, “Mudscapes”, a childhood retold in “Central”, and the poignant “The Mysteries Of A Murder At High Noon” (For Bobby 25, peasant organizer killed by the constabulary in Sevilla, Bohol). The last lines of “The Mysteries…” particularly, lingers on:

The peasant Gabriela breaks
Her silence, her wail
Spreads around your woman’s grief
Like red gauzy wings.

Jhacky Curambao’s “…it’s just an option” (Mixed Media, 2011) is a playfully clever visual rendering of a social commentary that could probably be named “Mother and Children: 9 and Counting”. While the mother looks pretty alert, the faceless expressions of the children do not paint a happy picture – which is telling.

“mother and child” (Oil on canvass, 2011) by Mona Liza “mican” Ibarra Namoc-Anunciado, meanwhile, has a warm and calming almost pastel-like feel, the colors complementing to the loving aura of a mother breastfeeding her baby. The painting just oozes with so much positivity, so much love.

Mitzi Lungay’s poem “Eugenia”, published in the Weekend by Sunstar (18 June 2000), is a homage to Eugenia, “a woman” who keeps the poet’s “fingers warm / in her wrinkle hands”. Mitzi Lungay also exhibits her series of meditative sumi-e paintings that shows a kind of exposed vulnerability, simple in rendition, they’re almost sedating, at the same time, stimulating.

Mitzi Ibaya, famous for her light, entertaining yet riveting declamatory balak’s shares her signature: “Ngano Man Diay Ug Wa’y Uyab” which begins with: “Lisod ‘ning dagang / wa’y uyab og di ko / tambok, maot ko’g / naw’ng o ba kaha / batasan.” But the dagang wa’y uyab has found its match with the dagang “Dagha’g Uyab” –  “Lisod ning dagang / dagha’g uyab. Og / di ko bigaon, / salawayon. Naa / po’y hungihong / buring  kuno / kong ingnon.”

The beauty of this first ever all-Boholana assemblage of visual and literary arts is that, not only did it allow for the breakthrough of several unexpected Boholana artists but the surprising discovery of burgeoning Boholana art genres as well.

Lumin Tirol-Pamaran proudly exhibits two of her barong embroidery artwork in an ensemble named simply: Burda ni Lumin. Her masterpieces, lovingly stitched as gift to her husband, Nonito, after the birth of their first child – have been kept in a chest in the artist’s attic for about 30 years. The Baji Exhibit certainly aided in having a beautiful handmade embroidery artwork come out from a three-decade hiding.

Tagbilaran Vice Mayor Nuevas Tirol-Montes also showcases her artistry with the motif-matching “The Lost Pair” (Acrylic on Leather Shoe, 2003) and “Faded Petals” (Acrylic on Paper, 2011), and a quirky thread stitching art “Bondage” (2011).

Digital artists also came in bold, with a self-assured creativity. Darlene Sanguenza-Cano’s “Deep Sleep” and Anna Hormiguera’s “Jelly Fish” are utterly divine.

Arianne Blanche Ramires-Rodriguez’ photography “Himudlay” and Virna Avergonzado’s manip’d photography “Save Me” will get you thinking. One is a picture of jaded beauty, the other, beauty jaded. Both speak volumes.

Lorely Trinidad’s “Lola” is an excerpt from WHERE THE HOT DOGS ARE RED AND THE SPAGHETTI IS SWEET: 7 VISITS TO THE PHILIPPINES, an autobiographical play developed for “Pinoy Stories,” a project of the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs. Ms. Trinidad, performed the piece in the opening reception, giving the printed words a heightened dimension and meaning.

The youngest baji artists of the lot are high school sophomore Maia Binhi B. Borja with her sketch, graphite on paper entitled “Mipauli”, and 10-year-old Dawn Likha B. Borja, sharing her creative essay “Why We Filipinos Have to Conserve our Future”.

‘Storya sa mga Baji

The diversity of the arts genre in both the visual and literary art forms showcased in the Baji Exhibit presents stories and perspectives pregnant with meaning. They tell tales of motherhood, women’s sputterings with beauty and relationships, girls wanting to metamorphose and flutter away like butterflies, struggles with health, social issues, the environment and preservation of culture and traditions – all women’s issues.

The Baji Exhibit is a positive space, a through flow of energy and nurturing spirit, where the viewers also take active part in the storytelling and the defining of the baj’ing Bol-anon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baji: An All-Boholana Arts Exhibit through March 28, 2011 at the HNU Photographic Museum and Archive of Boholano Life & Culture, Mondays-Fridays 7:30-11:30a.m. & 1:30-5:30p.m. and Saturdays 7:30-11:30a.m.

 

Baji is presented by the Asia Center for Sustainable Futures and the Women’s Development Center, in cooperation with the Holy Name University and the Office of Hon. Board Member Godofreda O. Tirol. Also, Baji extends special thanks to the University of Bohol Fine Arts Department, Center for Culture and Arts Development (CCAD) and Nenen’s Salon & Video Studio.

(This article also appeared in LifestyleBohol of The Bohol Chronicle on March 13, 2011.)