History as shared by the 3,500-year-old pictogram found in Cagayan, the petroglyphs in Rizal, the red hand stencils in Bohol, and modern-day graffiti artists like Rex Manalo or Deep
Getting older is liberating. As a woman living in the Philippines, I feel that women are slowly being released from the shackles of what traditional society expects. You reach an age when after succumbing to the pressures of love, church, and society’s expectation to get married, have children, and keep house, you learn to allow yourself to breathe, to think, and to make the decision whether you want to keep on being subjected to society’s norms. Admittedly, by the time a woman reaches that point, she has aged. And along with age, we assume she has gained the wisdom to know better.
One of the perks of being an older woman is getting comfortable going to restaurants to eat alone. I’ve never had issues eating alone even as a teenager but I notice that as a mature woman, I am given less attention compared to when a young lady sits alone in public. Nowadays, I revel in the lack of attention. It is easy to disappear and not attract notice, left to enjoy my meals in quiet solitude.
Not long ago, I found myself procrastinating. I needed to write my article for this week, so I decided to watch A Nation of Broth, a Korean food travelogue on Netflix, to pretend I was doing something important. I can never understand people at the gym on treadmills, watching food shows. I am so susceptible! Case in point, 24 minutes into the first episode of A Nation of Broth, I was already driving myself to a Korean pork stew restaurant not far from my house. The stew was delicious, the fall-off-the bone pork divine! Just me, myself, and a bowl of Korean kimchi pork stew. I can understand why Asians (well, non-Muslim Asians) have been in love with pork so much they took pigs with them on sea voyages for thousands of years.
People have been using the seas and the changing tides to explore, trade, raid, populate, and dominate lands for centuries. In the study of how parts of Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific were peopled, researchers follow clues left behind by our ancestors like DNA, cultural materials, language, plants, and animals. DNA samples from the remains of the “The Big 3” (referring to Dog, Chicken, and Pig) found in archaeological sites were tested. The DNA recovered from pigs, for instance, showed that they originated in Mainland Asia (South Asia, Thailand, and China). What our ancestors have left behind are now serving as clues, almost like signs emblazoned with the words, “We Were Here!”
One very early evidence is a cave drawing in charcoal found on a rock in Penablanca, Cagayan, which was dated to be 3,500 years old.
Archaeologist, assistant professor at the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences at Philippine Normal University, and lecturer at the DLSU-Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences and UP Department of Anthropology in Diliman Dr. Pamela Garong Faylona says there are many specimens of rock art found all over the Philippines. You have the red hand stencils in Bohol, the pictograms of Cagayan, the petroglyphs in Rizal and Bontoc, Mountain Province, and other rock art in Palawan and Davao del Sur. They are, she says, “attributes of being modern humans.” Indicative of cognitive behavior, they help us trace how man started to store information and knowledge and become aware of things important, which affected how he made decisions, which in turn affected his behavior. What they are is no different from their current-day counterpart—the work of the graffiti artist.
“I started writing our neighborhood gang name before I even knew it was called graffiti,” says Filipino graffiti artist Rex Manalo. “Before I was doing it for recognition, to let society know we existed, that we lived here, that we were here.”
Manalo, who goes by the tag name “Deep,” is a member of the Pinoy Bomber Crew or PBC. PBC is one of the oldest graffiti crews in the Philippines. It was founded by the group’s leader with the tag name “Ripe One” in 1999. According to Deep, he met “Ripe One” when they attended the same high school in Manila, bonding over their mutual love for hip-hop and graffiti.
We can’t be 60 years old and still find ourselves being chased by authorities!
I had signed up for a graffiti tour with Egyolk Street Shop manager Job Vezh. More than a tour of a street art scene in Makati, the artist Deep and Job also gave me the opportunity to create my own graffiti art as well.
Manalo chose the tag name Deep because he believes that everything in the world has a deeper meaning. His works also reflect his personality as a silent deep thinker. “At the beginning it was an act of vandalism but with maturity and knowledge, I was enlightened to the world of graffiti as an element of hip-hop,” says Deep. A form of cultural expression, graffiti is considered one of the four elements of hip hop, which include rapping, breakdancing, and DJ-ing. “Nowadays, I just want to send a message, to brighten someone’s day, to express my thoughts, and to share my talent with others,” he adds.
When asked to describe his style, Deep says his favorite approach is stencil. “I convert my portrait and other images into a stencil format similar to Banksy’s style. This is because my weakness is freehand drawing,” he explains.
Deep does not follow trends, “If the current trend in graffiti letters is ‘wild style’ graffiti, I’ll make my own style a readable one. If everyone is making monsters, I’ll make a kid-friendly character,” he says. As an added feature of his graffiti work, which are all over Makati, viewers can download the Artivive app, scan the image, and then watch as the image come alive.
Deep is very happy to see the street art scene in the Philippines evolve. “Before, when you say graffiti, it is synonymous with vandalism and illegal activity. Now more and more people see it as an art form,” he says. “You can see commissioned graffiti pieces on establishments and businesses. You can also see paintings and graffiti artists at galleries. There are also international events and competitions for the best writers and artists in the Philippines, which inspire a lot of young talented individuals. Graffiti art even helps redirect other peoples’ lives to the right direction.”
When he was growing up, Deep recalls how people saw street artists merely as delinquent teens on the streets, partying, drinking, and breaking curfew. He wants people to know that street artists, such as himself, have dreams too, that they aim for a better life for themselves and for their family. They too can evolve and serve as inspiration for other youths on the streets. After all, one has to change because, as Deep explains, “We can’t be 60 years old and still find ourselves being chased by authorities!”
It was one of those quiet evenings on Suba Beach in Ilocos Norte, eons ago, when I had a chance to speak with Bongbong Marcos, then Ilocos Norte governor, about his upbringing and childhood adventures. I asked him about his boarding school days at Worth School in Sussex, UK. He recalled spending his last night at Worth, having graduated high school, on the roof with a friend. In the course of the evening, someone had the bright idea of using toilet paper to create words on the roof. The next day, while he was packing, he was called to answer for what he had done on the roof and the toilet paper. Bongbong assured me that the school really couldn’t do anything because he had graduated, already leaving that day. So, I asked, “How did they know it was you and what did you write?” The future 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines replied, “MARCOS.”
NOTE: Photos of Cave Art provided 1. Faylona, M. G. P. G., Lising, C. M. Q., & Dizon, E. Z. (2016). Re-examining pictograms in the caves of Cagayan Valley, Philippines. Rock Art Research: The Journal of the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA), 33(2), 182-192. 2. Jalandoni, A., Faylona, M. G. P. G., Sambo, A. S., Willis, M. D., Lising, C. M. Q., Kottermair, M., ... & Taçon, P. S. (2021). First Directly Dated Rock Art in Southeast Asia and the Archaeological Implications. Radiocarbon, 63(3), 925-933.
You can view Rex Manalo or Deep’s works at his ongoing exhibit at the Egyolk Street Shop at Makati Cinema Square. To sign up for the Graffiti Tour, contact Egyolk Street Shop Gallery via FB.