“When a man is reduced to skin and bone, what is left of him?”
Chris Rollo, member curator of Panit Bukog 5, a Mindanao Contemporary Art Exhibit in Cagayan de Oro City, shared that when there is nothing left, “man only has his soul, and that is what art is all about.”
“Panit is skin, and bone is bukog. When you look at a person, the skin is the external, and bukog is the most internal structure of the body, so it is about the internal and external and everything in between,” he said.
In its 5th year, Rollo looked back at the work of artists, depicting the changes and elevation in how they express themselves over the years.
Panit Bukog is just an analogy of the human body.
“Just like human beings, this exhibition grows and develops, and that is why we are in the 5th installment now because the community of the visual artists in the now is growing not just in terms of number, not just in terms of coverage of the areas that are involved, but also in the content of the work,” he said.
Art has different purposes.
Artists have their own personal reasons for doing and practicing art. Others, because it is their nature, cannot live without it. But over and above that, art is also a way of making a living.
Like any work or profession, if you add value to the world, the world gives the value back, he said.
Admittedly, Rollo shared that when they started with Panit Bukog 1, their works were “pa-cute” decorative, landscape, mother and child, flowers, but this time in its 5th year, the work has evolved into powerful messages.
One of the objectives of Panit Bukog is to go beyond art as aesthetic expression and make art a powerful tool, a powerful way of making a change in this world.
Bea Pascubillo, a visual artist in Iligan City, said this initiative has a different objective: “It’s just like a plain expression.”
Once you disturb someone’s mind, it has an impact on them. If they are curious, they will dive in with unsa ni siya [what is this] about? Why was this artwork conceptualized in the first place?
Art is like a medium to send messages to people.
Not everyone is articulate with words, but some are articulate in a way like artworks, through paintings, so it is just a different medium, not just words.
“Dili ko [I am not] articulate nga person pero [but] it’s my way of expressing how I see struggles and marginalized nga mga tao [people],” she said.
Meanwhile, Cling Vega, another visual artist from Iligan City, shared that she started art at a young age and that it has become a fuel for her to create visuals that depict current concerns and issues in society.
Her artwork on the eye of a storm using waste materials is a message to take care of the environment. (JMOR/PIA-10)
