“BEYOND THE CLOSET”

Sa darating na Marso 07, 2023 hanggang Marso 31, 2023, itatampok sa isang art gallery exhibit ng National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) ang mga likha ni Maryll Dame B. Delposo o Myr.

Si Myr ay tubong Koronadal City, South Cotabato, gradweyt ng Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Arts sa University of the Philippines Mindanao.

Ang mga naturang obra ni Myr ay produkto ng kanyang tesis na “Beyond the Closet: 2D Digital Paintings in Stylized Art Style Representations of Coming Out Stories of Selected LGBTQIA+ Individuals in Koronadal City, South Cotabato.”

Ang nasabing tesis ay ginalugad ang paggamit ng 2D Digital Painting bilang medyum upang mailahad ang sarili, kapaligiran, at kultura ng anim na mga self-identified LGBTQIA+ Individuals na inilahad ang kanilang mga personal na karanasan sa konsepto ng “Coming Out”. Ayon sa Pew Research Center (2013), ang Coming Out ay personal na proseso ng pagkilala, pagtanggap, pagbibigay halaga at pagiging komportable sa pag-explore at pagbabahagi ng mga taong parte ng LGBTQIA+ ng kanilang Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity (SOGIE) sa ibang tao.

Sa bawat pagdetalye ng mga nasabing indibidbwal ng kanilang mga karanasan ukol sa nasabing konsepto, ito ang pinagbasehan ni Myr sa pagguhit upang makabuo ng konsepto ng imahe na siyang naging pinal na produkto ng kanyang obra.

Sa 2D Digital Painting, ang mga artist gaya ni Myr ay direktang gumuguhit sa 2D Digital Surface gaya ng tablet o personal computer. Gamit ang Digital Paintbrush, nakapaglilikha ito ng iba’t ibang layer upang makagawa ng pinal na mga imahe.

Upang maipakita sa publiko ang mga obra ni Myr, ang 2D Digital Paintings na produkto ng kanyang tesis ay huhubugin gamit ang Textile Art. Sa prosesong ito, ang digital na mga imahe ay ilalagay sa tela sa pamamagitan ng pinaghalong burda, pinta, at mga larawan upang makabuo ng pinal na desinyo o anyo. Ang nasabing proseso rin ay representasyon ng personal na paglilipat at pagbabahagi ng isang artist ng kanyang mga kwento sa madla.

“PLAY WITHIN THE BOX WOMEN REFRAMED”

Looking for an exhibition that will keep you pumped to be a woman this Woman’s Month? You should check out this all-woman show happening at NCCA Gallery.

Today, there’s an abundance of messages harping on women’s empowerment to the point where their identities are acknowledged by their presence over genuine representation. 

Instead of embracing the broad spectrum of what a woman can be beyond their appearances, the way we imagine women or craft stories around them tend to fall on tried and tested representations. 

This is a dilemma that women in advertising are currently facing. We now know better that women are more complex than the stereotypes we imagine them to follow. As a critique of this, the exhibition Play Within The Box: Women Reframed takes us against the age-old adage of “thinking outside the box” in favor of looking at our present realities and reframing them into possibilities. 

The featured artists are no strangers to creating stories about women. Jo Aguilar, Villarica, and Tricia Salonga are advertising creatives that have worked on award-winning ad campaigns. They turn to their personal art practices to shed light on diversified roles and characteristics of women which aren’t as represented as we’d hope they’d be in this day and age.

“Ten years na ako as art director at designer. Alam ko kung genuine ba ang pakay ng mga tao at one glance. It’s an acquired skill. So nung nalaman kong sa labas ng Pilipinas, sa loob ng industriyang ito, na hindi pala patas ang pagtingin sa kabababaihan, alam kong may magagawa ako.” Said Villarica. 

Play Within the Box: Women Reframed takes audiences on a multi-sensory experience that touches on how women used to be portrayed, what roles and realities women have now, and what fair representations of women could look like going forward. The show exposes shared pains that women have dealt with. This includes the impossible ideals that are perpetuated in advertisements as early as the 1950s in contrast to what genuine women’s empowerment could look like.