The mini-documentary Dreamweavers discusses major points of TBoli life in South

Cotabato, more prominently in the arts and culture. As such, concepts in the essay
written by Alice Guillermo, entitled Art & Society, can be directly applied to the way
they live.

As the documentarys namesake suggests, the TBoli prominently channel their artistic
faculties in weaving intricate and geometric designs in the fabric called tnalak. This is
highly suggestive of the first idea of Alice Guillermo in her essay, which is that art has its
own specificity. A huge chunk of their time is devoted to preparing the necessary
materials to produce tnalak. Abaca is stripped for its fibers and is colored with dye for
aesthetic and possibly symbolic purposes. The elements of art can be seen in a tnalak
for its geometric designs, display of vibrant colors, and intricacy of patterns.

A crucial part of the production of tnalak is based from the dreams and imagination of
the TBoli. This can be related to Guillermos second idea, which is art as a social
import. In the documentary, the production of tnalak was taught from generation to
generation. Value laden works drawn from human psychophysical experiences and
cultural codes of a particular

The third idea stated in the essay is that art has no singular meaning. As such, there is
no strict way of looking at tnalak. There could be hidden meanings behind the
intricacies of the design of the fabric. It could probably mean gods and goddesses from

the TBolis dreams or pure emotion from their behalf. This clearly shows how art can be
versatile enough to invoke critical thinking and pure imagination.

Art as a social construct is the fourth idea that Alice Guillermo presents in her essay.

The fifth idea that Alice Guillermo presents in her essay is that a work of art as sign is
viewed in the dialogic situation of the work and its viewer. This is very difficult for some
to imagine, especially that the art work in question is a woven cloth. However, the
design in the fabric can relay emotions of the TBoli, due to it being highly influenced by
their dreams. Some possible ideas include red for anger or love, or

Finally, it is emphasized in the documentary that the culture must be preserved. This
can be related to the last idea of Guillermos essay, which is that art is grounded in
society and history. The teacher in the documentary made it clear in her interview that
she strives to preserve the TBoli culture in Mindanao and possibly the entire
Philippines. In my opinion, this is a huge undertaking due to the presence of the socalled modern society, but is highly commendable due to preservation of Filipino
culture in general, which is dying slowly.

Overall, the traditions of the TBoli in the production of tnalak help bolster the growth
and development of Philippine art, not just for monetary gain but for maintaining the
traditions set by ancestral Filipinos.

One case that got my interest is the first, which talks about William Carlos
Williams best known poem, This Is Just to Say. The poem talks about the writer who
ate some plums from an ice box, and apologizes to the owner saying it was delicious.
Looking at the essentialist point of view, as spearheaded by Plato, we try to discover the
essence or definition of art. It is possible that the person who had the poem published
found a very deep meaning with the text. This is just like literature class which provides
underlying meanings to any piece, be it a poem or a short story.

The anti-essentialist point of view opposes any definition of art. The poem could
directly just be considered as literally something that was posted on the door of his
friends refrigerator according to the essay. Anti-essentials would say that there is
nothing significantly art about the poem.

The anti-anti-essentialist point of view does not believe that art is undefinable,
but rather dependent on the artworlds say which objects are art and which arent. For
literature majors, most probably, the poem could be considered a work of art. It can be
further analyzed and broken down into elements like rhyme, tone, mood and scale. It
may be read between the lines to find any symbols or figures of speech. On the other
hand, some people may not consider it as art because of its lack of complexity.

These points of view summarize certain ways how art is viewed. I do not
consider any of them to be the correct and logical one, although it would be best to
discern which would clearly help define art in certain situations.