Our nation’s story perseveres not only through history books but also through the work of countless Filipino artists.

While our history paints the horrors of a country colonized many times over, there are pieces of our past that shine through in the form of the arts. Looking through early works of Filipino artists, some make portraits of Filipinos going about their daily lives, while others paint the lush nature present in our provinces. These show us, more or less, the simpler side of our history that often gets brushed aside.

In “Kultura. Kapital. Kasulukuyan: Contemporary Art from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Collection,” we are presented with selected pieces that were once hidden away, only to be seen in the halls of the BSP. After partnering with the National Museum, artworks of over 30 artists are now on display in two galleries entitled “Pagmulat” and “Pagtanaw.”

For “Pagmulat,” we see pieces that focus on the everyday realities of Filipinos. Paintings like Pablo Baens Santos’s “Magsasaka (Farmer),” Santiago Bose’s “Travels,” and Antipas Delotavo’s “Dambuhala (Giant),” seem to have blue-collar workers as their subjects. Meanwhile, Edgar Talusan Fernandez’s “Bagong Umaga,” Brenda Fajardo’s “Anxiety Circa,” and Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi’s “Self Images I” appear to depict inner struggles like motherhood, balancing mental wellness, and dealing with one’s body image. “Pagtanaw,” on the other hand, follows an exciting time in the Filipino art scene as more artists started to experiment with their work. Pieces like Gus Albor’s “Terminus 94,” Joey Cobcobo’s “Mukang Piso,” Maria Isabel Cruz’s “Milky Way,” Demetrio Padua, Jr.’s “Hearsay,” and Patricia Perez Eustaquio’s “Untitled (Butcher’s Blossom) IV” take a more abstract route that allows viewers to feel for themselves what to make of their works.

“Kultura. Kapital. Kasulukuyan: Contemporary Art from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Collection” is on view at the National Museum of Fine Arts until Nov. 15, 2027.