In his latest exhibit, “The Diaries of My Time,” Talisaynon artist Roedil Geraldo acts as both a visual memoirist and a social conscience. Utilizing a blend of terracotta sculpture, acrylic paintings, and intricate pen-and-ink drawings, he presents a journal that logs his intimate, often troubled observations of contemporary Philippine society. His work captures the fractures of a nation in a rapidly changing moral and digital landscape.

For Roedil, creating art is far removed from corporate ladder-climbing or commercial ambitions.

“I don’t believe in career; I believe in lifestyle,” Roedil shares. “A career can be gone, but a lifestyle that stays until the end. What is important is that you have a purpose, and you give inspiration to humanity.”

This commitment to purpose shines through in every piece on display at The Negros Museum. Roedil describes his core body of work as raw social commentary. His subjects stem directly from his immediate environment, recording what happens to his community, his country, and his personal life, whether good or bad.

The title of the show, “The Diaries of My Time,” functions as an open journal. Every canvas and raw earth sculpture represents a page documenting the world around him.

The installation sculpture, “Give a Dog a bone,” serves as the focal point for the collection. Featuring contorted and elongated human figures alongside expressive, predatory canine forms, the piece directly confronts political corruption and power dynamics. It exposes a reality where ego and greed threaten to overtake foundational values like love, peace, and solidarity.

The socio-political critiques carry over into striking visual works such as “Year of the Crocodile,” an acrylic painting depicting a figure crawling through waters infested with hungry crocodiles, framed by birdhouses holding glowing red hearts amid towering high-rises, a metaphor for survival in an environment overrun by greed.

The “Story of My Time Series I” is a surreal composition rich in religious allegories, winged beings, skeletal figures, and dark symbolism reflecting moral and spiritual turmoil.

Meanwhile, “Lumos” is an intricate canvas showing a prone figure merged with sprawling green foliage and blooming white roses, surrounded by dense glowing patterns.

“My Peace,” on the other hand, is a textured figure seated in quiet contemplation amid stars, blood-red hues, and perched birds, embodying a refuge found amid chaos.

“Diyos Ko” is an expressive terracotta sculpture featuring a flame-like, crowned head rising from a hollowed torso, highlighting the raw texture and unrefined power of local earth.

Roedil’s medium of choice, terracotta sourced directly from the local soil and fired in open-air flames, is central to his creative process. The unpredictability of clay demands labor, patience, and a deep connection to the land.

“My creative process is to show the pureness of material, especially the honesty of what I’m doing in my work,” Roedil says.

Inside his studio, which he describes simply as “the story of my life.” Roedil lets intuition dictate completion. He doesn’t struggle with letting go of works; a piece is finished when a natural sense of satisfaction is achieved.

His stories, present in his studio and even in his exhibit “The Diaries of My Time,” show people that we should take time to pause, look away from digital screens, and re-engage with real, human experiences.

“I want this exhibit to tell people that art is important,” Roedil reflects. “It gives a story to everything that happens in our nation and in our personal lives.”

“The Diaries of My Time” by Roedil Geraldo runs until Sept. 21 at The Negros Museum.