Concluding with its last stop in its school circuit, the history art exhibit Alas ng Bayan will be on view from March 10 – 21 at the University of the Philippines Manila, Museum of History and Ideas. The display will resume at the Linangan Gallery of the Constantino Foundation on April 9, 2020, in celebration of the centennial birth anniversary of writer and historian Letizia Roxas Constantino.
A collaborative project by the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, the Constantino Foundation, and 350 Filipinas, the exhibit features a painting in the style of the Tarot for each of the five “aces”: Gregoria “Oriang” de Jesus, Apolonia Catra, Remedios Gomez-Paraiso, Maria Lorena Barros, and Gloria Barran. All from different junctures of Philippine history, these exceptional women stood defiantly against forms of national oppression, social injustice, and gender norms presented in their lifetimes.
As it is with the Tarot, each card is rich in symbolism: every element down to the heroine’s pose contains meaning, and even more so within a given spread. The triumphant figures conceived of artist John Eduard P. Guarin present themselves as archetypes, timeless in their wisdom for these turbulent times.
