Project 3 Art

Project 3: MI

Project 3: Marco Santiago
"Sira ni Malakas at ni Maganda"

While making my artwork I had no idea to what to make. I thought about what was the importance of “Maganda” (Pretty) or “Malakas”(Strong) in Filipino culture. At first I thought a lot about what made Filipino’s strong and beautiful. I ended up thinking a lot and creating a list of ideas that were long that I probably couldn’t have incorporated it into my artwork. That being said I was at a completely lost in my ideas of strength and beauty. It got to the point where I confused myself on what exactly I was focusing on. So I took a step back and I revaluated my concepts. Since there were so many things that made Filipino’s strong and beautiful, I thought about what made Filipino’s weak and ugly.

The myth Maganda at si Malakas states, two people came out of bamboo, flew on a bird, and populated the Philippines. After reading the myth a couple of times I realized that without the bamboo, there would be no more strength or beauty in the Philippines because there would be no more Filipinos. Therefore, I knew I wanted to include bamboo in my piece because it was such a vital part of the myth.

To start of my artwork grabbed the cardboard part of a gift-wrap rolls and created bamboo like figures. The bamboo was made by creating a ring with tape and sticking it onto the cardboard roll. The ring created a bulging surface that resembled real bamboo. After taping down the roll, I painted it with brown which added a wood like feel.

Second I printed pictures of the Philippines in its worst conditions. I found pictures of the ghettos in the Philippines and found pictures of huge garbage dumps. After I printed these two pictures in black and white, I pasted it onto the background and in front of the bamboo pieces. I chose to print it in black and white to add more focus to the other things in my piece. Once that was done, I moved to the last part of my artistic creation process which was the addition of garbage to the bottom.

Basically, the true concept of my piece is to show the myth’s importance in Filipino culture. Since the bamboo was the original sprout of strength and beauty, I wanted display that Philippines as a once beautiful land. My parents told me as a kid that people considered the Philippines a legitimate vacationing spot, much like Hawaii. I was truly shocked and now that I look at the Philippines, who would want to go there for a vacation? So I used my created bamboo to signify the beginning of strength and the beauty the Philippines once had. I mean honestly, now the Philippines is full of garbage and liter. No one cares about the environment in the Philippines. The strength and beauty the Philippines that it once had is now gone because of the lack of care to the environment.

Through this art piece, I hope to raise awareness about the environmental issues in the Philippines. My whole purpose is to remind people that the Philippines had so much beauty and strength, but the lack of caring for the environmental issues in the Philippines cause destruction. This is why my title is called, “Sira ni Malakas at ni Maganda” or in other words, “The Destruction of Strength and Beauty.”

Project 3 Critique:
Project 3: CJA
Project 3: Lester Banatao
For me, I see this scene as representative of the struggle of Filipinos both at home and abroad, while it can also represent anyone who has had to fight to get their foot in the door. What makes my piece a little more "Filpino," in a sense is that it does include religion. And while I don't mean Catholicism or Christianity in general, faith and a belief in something can help someone get through a struggle or help someone fight for something. A faith in God or any other higher being or even not having a specific "belief" can help someone find strength in difficult times. Whether it be fighting against oppressors, fighting against discrimination, or even just fighting to get ahead in life, a belief and faith in many things, including family, can be all that one needs to stay strong and move forward.

There is beauty all around us, and beauty can certainly be judged by "the eye of the beholder." Just in the Philippines alone, "beauty" might take on a very simple or shallow meaning judging from what one can see on Philippine television. But many people are able to see and acknowledge the beauty that is everywhere. Going back to religion and faith, many people see beauty in their beliefs. Whether it be the solemnity of a spiritual service or the community that is brought together by a common faith, people see beauty in what they hold close to their hearts and minds. There are times when people struggle with beauty, the need to be or have beauty or even how to maintain beauty that is found in our world. At its simplest form, beauty is just going outside and looking at what is out there.

Project 3: Grace MalkiAs an interpretation of the Malakas and Maganda creation story combined with elements of the Catholic faith (the main religion of the Philippines), this piece is about the importance of nature in creating human existence. I truly wanted to convey that human existence was not possible without plants or animals. Materials used in this piece are blown eggs, shells, leaves, moss, feathers, styrofoam, leather, artificial hair, and cloth.

I chose to display six figures, mounted with heads made from chicken eggs. The number six refers to man being created on the sixth day. I used eggs as the human heads to enforce the feeling that without the bird God sent down, we never would have “hatched.” The egg, an edible use of human’s and reproductive mechanism is an essential material to use to convey this message. I chose to use brown eggs to a feeling of indigenous persons. The inners of the eggs have been blown out for the purpose of depicting how humans are powerless without the driving force of nature.

Each “head” is adorned with an important element that symbolizes earth’s existence. The vine and leave wrapped eggs symbolize nature’s lush green plants while the leather wrapped egg symbolizes human’s use of animal hide and mammals. The shell embellished egg symbolizes the ocean and sea life, and the feather adorned egg symbolizes birds and the bird in the creation story, the key to creating human existence. The last head is adorned with artificial hair which was partially intended to be humorous and also was intended to reference to today’s desire to be a coiffured and a developed race. It is meant to be overly done up and fussy, and stand in comparison with nature’s simple beauty.

I decided to allude to the concept of hybridism by displaying the figures as a people and crucifixes. This symbolizes that we are all part of God’s being. By dressing the figures in all white cloth, I alluded to the Catholic religion and purity. Purity plays an important role in the meaning of nature to me and its simple and everlasting existence. By creating a sense of holiness, elements of Catholicism emerge, an important aspect of Filipino culture.

Project 3: Michelle Medina



Project 3 critique:Project 3: AM
Project 3: MCC