Images of Our Nation (Eleazar “Abe” Orobia, Solo Exhibition) and Raywen Kan Hamyan (Hangtay Artists, Group Exhibition)

IMAGES OF OUR NATION:

In the midst of the pandemic, Abe Orobia, the artist, developed “hope muscles” and learned to find opportunities from these painful experiences. He now shares them with the public in this exhibition titled “Images of Our Nation” at the NCCA Gallery. His presentation of works of felt tip on watercolor paper and white ink on black paper are accompanied by his narratives written in prose. His documentation and archival videos are also showcased as part of the exhibit.

This pandemic has caused art and culture to be shunted to the sidelines – totally neglecting the pressing issue that art, deemed non-essential, was actually someone else’s means of livelihood.

With the onslaught of fear and helplessness brought about by COVID-19 came the unimaginable for Abe: the halting of his creation process. For one who believes that to create is to exist, to create is to survive, and to create is to heal, art is the ultimate form of critical care – and to lose its making is to lose life’s meaning.

RAYWEN KAN HAMYAN:

Deploying the idea of the changing seasons as a central motif, “Raywen kan Hamyan” is an exhibition that frames the poignancy of Batanes’ shifting seasons, seasonally altered states of its environment and the charms of a culture that is constantly affected by such predictable sequences and order in nature.

Ivatans and their way of life is perhaps one of the most environmentally sensitive cultures in the country. The show is a celebration of that coexistence and ecology between man and nature.

Hangtay Artists, the group behind this exhibition is a group of Ivatan artists which celebrates rootedness and empowerment as means and end to growth of Ivatan communities and an extent, the safeguarding and preservation of their unique cultural identity.

INSTITUTION PROFILE
PHILIPPINES

National Commission for Culture and the Arts
633 General Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila
(+63) 02 8527 2192
https://ncca.gov.ph

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts is the primary government arm mandated to protect, develop, and promote Philippine arts and culture, and is tasked to administer the National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts or NEFCA to fund various culture and arts programs in the Philippines. NCCA also acts as the de facto Ministry of Culture in the country and works closely with various culture and arts agencies, artists, and arts organizations.