Archive for the ‘Art Exhibits’ Category
Photos from the Mahal (2) Art Exhibit and 2012 Professionals Conference
Introducing the Mahal (2) Art Exhibit
In his essay Ang Pag-Ibig, Filipino revolutionary, Emilio Jacinto, writes that love is the promise of liberation and joy for a people in suffering.
The Tagalog word ‘mahal’ translates into ‘love.’ It refers to that which is dear, but also means expensive. Perhaps Jacinto’s promise of fulfillment is also a costly one.
Photography by Edsel Yu Chua and Deyan Denchev
Photos from the Mahal (2) Art Exhibit and 2012 Professionals Conference
January 21 Events: Professional Conference+MAHAL exhibit
- Ed Nicolas, Professional Engineer, Contractor, Certified Home Inspector
- May Farrales, recently completed her MA, and now a PhD Student, at the UBC Department of Geography
- Mel Cruz, Certified General Accountant, Founding member of Association of Filipino General Accountants BC, 2011 President AFGA BC
- Kaiser Esquillo, UBC Food, Health, and Nutrition graduate
- Lawrence Santiago, UBC PhD Student, Department of Geography, Trudeau Scholar
- Dr. Leonora Angeles, Associate Professor, UBC School of Community and Regional Planning and the Women’s and Gender Studies Undergraduate Program
- Patrick Cruz, Emily Carr University Fine Arts Graduate, multi-disciplinary visual artist
Update: See photos from the event.
MAHAL Art Exhibit Documentation
MAHAL: an artistic exploration of the desires
which carry the filipina/o across borders
By Chaya Erika Go, UBC Anthropology (4th year, undergraduate)
To culminate a series of events organised by the UBC Philippine Studies Series with guest lecturer, Dr Vicente L. Rafael, an art exhibit entitled MAHAL was held at the YACTAC gallery from October 28 to November 4, 2011. The name of the exhibit was inspired as such: In his book White Love (2000), Vicente L. Rafael considers the Filipino word ‘mahal’ as a translation for the word ‘love’. It refers to that which is dear, but also means valuable and expensive. Rafael writes that such ambiguities express love as a promise of fulfilment –and a costly one.
Artists were invited to submit their interpretations of what constitutes such desires, and what a ‘border’ signifies relating to their reflections on Filipino transnationals. Both as a co-curator and a participating artist in MAHAL, this paper is written as a post-exhibit reflective analysis of the processes I engaged with in this project: (1) interpreting the theme as expressed in the submissions, (2) designing the space to narrate the whole collection, and (3) witnessing the dynamic ways a Filipino transnational community is re-created in Vancouver through MAHAL. This paper is structured in these three sections accordingly. The reflections conveyed in this paper come from my own direct experiences, which are then interwoven with analyses put forward by Filipino artists and scholars of transnationalism. Through discussions with my co-curator, and conversations with artists and guests, this paper attempts to be inclusive of the wide variety of experiences created by MAHAL, but is careful not to claim authority over these individual experiences.
Photos by Deyan Denchev
