By Jinggoy I. Salvador
The MindanaoArt 2024 unveiled the breathtaking collection of “Art on the Edge” to usher in the Museums and Galleries Month in October. It’s the biggest art show and market in Mindanao gathering 34 galleries from all over the Philippines to showcase more than 1,000 artworks by over 300 artists, a veritable paradise in Davao for art enthusiasts and collectors alike.
In attendance at the opening were the supporters and purveyors of the creative field—the former chairman of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA), historian, and professor Felipe de Leon, Jr., NCCA executive director Dr. Eric Zerrudo, National Museum of the Philippines director Jeremy Barnes, Davao City councilor Al Ryan Alejandre, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI XI) director Romeo Castañaga, Janette Veloso of the Davao del Norte Department of Education (DepED), Visayas Art Fair president Laurie Boquiren, SM Malls executives, artists from all over Mindanao, and gallerists from across the country.
Since its conception six years ago by Lawig-Diwa Inc., a non-profit organization with the aim to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage and artistic excellence of Mindanao, MindanaoArt has become the biggest, most prominent platform for artists in the region.
This year’s fair puts the spotlight on the empowering beauty of creative expression blooming from the edges. Interpreting the theme in three dimensions is the outdoor art installation at the mall’s Fountain Court—the Bamboo, the Flower, and the people dancing Budots, the central images for this year’s Mindanao Art.
“The union of the bamboo (embodying our culture—pliant but durable, ever renewable and interconnected in the roots) and the flower (signifying the living act of blooming)—is the marriage of strength and grace, and is Mindanao’s continuation of the ancient tradition of merging in art the energies of the masculine and the feminine. All around the united images of the bamboo and a flower are dozens of statues of people dancing Budots, Mindanao’s iconic urban folk dance. The statues capture the blossoming shape that the body assumes while dancing Budots, legs spread out, arms undulating like bamboo branches in the air,” shared Lawig Diwa, Inc.
At the opening ceremony of the art fair, Kublai Millan, artist and president of Lawig-Diwa Inc. said, “Mindanao and Mindanawon artists not only struggle against being far from the cultural center, they also have to deal with the general Filipino disregard for creativity. All that on top of the endemic challenges of their home island: conflict, calamity, and a lack of resources. But it is these very struggles which make Mindanao art all the more poignant. We are an island that has received so little, but can create so much. And the art we produce is steeped in spirit, deeply rooted in community, and organic to the lives of our people. This year, we celebrate the challenges as blessings because it is these struggles, these limitations, that have pushed us to the edge of what we can do.”
A change of perception is needed, according to Felipe de Leon, Jr. in his keynote message. “Not on the edge, but cutting edge. Mindanao is very fortunate in the wealth of its traditional, indigenous culture, whether from the lumad, Muslim communities, or lowland Christian folk,” he said. “The arts of these cultures are as local and distinct as you can get. They are the farthest and as different from those of Europe and the West. Thus, they are the best bet for a unique, national Filipino cultural identity. Add to these the Mindanao-inspired contemporary artists in this current exhibit, and you have an edge over artists from Luzon and other regions, which are not as endowed with distinct, indigenous expressions of identity. Indeed, Mindanao artists are not in the edge, but on the cutting edge of breakthroughs in Philippine art. Your indigenous and local talent-based creative innovations will reverberate. Mindanao is the cultural center of the Philippines. Where else in the country are all the cultural communities amply represented?”
The Mindanao Art Fair is organized by Lawig Diwa, Inc. in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the National Committee on Art Galleries (NCAG), and SM Supermalls particularly SM Lanang. The event runs until Oct. 6 at the SM Lanang Premier in Davao City.