CHARACTERISTICS

PROPONENT ARTIST AND ART WORK

FORM

Neil Pasilan

Andres Barrioquinto
 HISTORY

The first issue was about the historical links

between the Philippines and other parts of Southeast
Asia, and especially between Muslim communities
whose traditional networks transcended national
borders. Those relationships tended to be obscured
in this exhibition, both by the repetition of the
Catholic/folk binary and also by the emphasis on the
indigenous aspects in the artworks. Symbols and
concepts of regional significance were presented as
if they derived from purely local mythologies.On the
only panel where the Philippines’ cultural links
with its neighbours were acknowledged, it was in
very abstract terms of “share[d] cultural and
religious practises” and “exchange between the
region’s diverse communities”. Without specific
examples of those shared practices and exchanges, it
was difficult to see how the Filipino artists were
participating in, and responding to, the general
currents of Southeast Asian history and culture.The
second issue was about the relationship between
Christianity and colonialism. Talk of “mixed” or
“fused” religiosity often glossed over the political
character of Catholic presence in the Philippines.
Proselytising was the primary reason and
justification for Spanish colonisation of the
archipelago, as expressed in a 1591 contract
authorising an attempted conquest of Mindanao for
God and King.

CONTEMPORARY
ARTS FORMS IN
THE PHILIPPINES
JOHN PATRICK SURIO

STUDENT:

Elvin L. Jarito
SUBJECT TEACHER:

Patricia Perez Eustaquio

Hannah Pettyjohn