02 December 2024
Alabang Country Club
This exhibit mounted for Sigma Rho Golf Invitational 2024 “Defenders of the West Philippine Sea” explores cartographic and maritime themes within the context of the concept of “territory”. Works include watercolor, collage, painting, as well as prints of maps from various time periods.
Throughout history, maps have mediated power, proclaiming as an act of possession. We see this in the fabled circumnavigation of Magellan that Filipinos are taught in history class from an early age. During this time, Europe was ruled by a few monarchic alliances in pursuit of colonization. New sea routes were charted. The journey from the old world to the new world via ship was akin to travelling to outer space today. One successful voyage would result in a gain in human knowledge lasting many lifetimes. Later, during the economic boom of the Philippines throughout the late 19th century all the way into the early 20th century, new and revised maps and treaties emerged yet again asserting imperial power and the shifting or preserving of the status quo.
One of the most troubling aspects of the West Philippine Sea dispute is the absence of geographic stability and the complex nature of geopolitical interaction that has plagued this tremendously contested region of the world. The boundaries constantly shift. Who knows if the current territorial divisions that we identify will still be recognizable decades from today?
We remind ourselves that the concept of land also means heritage, community and home. We try to find joy in the simple things of life and yet we sometimes feel powerless with all these lofty issues. We only see the West Philippine Sea in books and on the screen. What is it to us?
Can we really dig beneath the mask of civility that diplomacy gives? Could it be that the human mind has limits in dealing with the uneasiness of an incoherent wreck of a political situation?
And maybe this is where art comes in, to express ideas truthfully but never blandly. Never without feeling. Yet feeling can only sustain us to a certain extent. Art may give us joy but it is the law of men that give us true and reasonable optimism. It is the spirit of the law that allows true understanding instead of ideology.
Through these works we may forge new associations and connections deserving further examination.
