... or maybe out late too.
I am referring to the street arts along Session Road in Baguio City. I didn't know they existed until early this morning when many establishments were still closed.
As I mentioned on my previous post, Session Road is considered the central business district of Baguio City and a pedestrian mall on Sundays. It is a sloping street where the foot is an intersection with Magsaysay Avenue and the top intersecting with Gov. Pack Road.
Today, I needed to meet someone early on a Sunday morning so I was along Session Road before eight. Coming from the foot and going up on the left side, I was amusing around the still quiet street with very few people. That was when I noticed the paintings on the other side of the road, on the close roll-up doors of stalls at Skyworld Commercial Center.
This used to be a nine-storey condominium but crumbled during the 1990 earthquake.
The stalls were always open when I passed by before so there was no chance to notice the paintings until today. My curiosity kicked in so I crossed the road to take a closer look.
The right-most painting is dark. I immediately saw the girl but it took me a while to decipher the letterings at the bottom. When I was able to read the letterings to be Baguio, I took a second look at the girl to find her relation to the city. That was when I spotted her big earring. It is an ethnic accessory of the Igorot tribes in the Cordillea region where Baguio City is. I have known it called as wising but maybe called differently by other Igorot tribes. It is an open circle-ish shape made of either gold, brass or bronze. I usually see it being used as pendant. My elder brother once had one so I was able to hold and touch one. Now I imagine that girl on the painting and thought "that earring must be heavy."
The next painting is a chicken with writings on the sides that I don't understand. Again, I was wondering about its relation to the place then I found the small writing on the lower right side, "Pinikpikan.
Pinikpikan is a chicken dish in the region. The term came from the root word pikpik which means to beat with stick. This is because the chicken is killed through beatings before it is butchered for cooking.
I can't decipher the third painting. I can only identify the first letter S but not of the others. I also cannot tell if the image to the right is a skull or just playing cards with black hearts and background. Just one of the arts that I find hard to interpret...
The next painting to the left is a campaign from PDEA or Philippine Drug Enforcememt Agency. Don't do drugs! To its left is OMMM. What is that?
The paintings on the next two doors are also something I don't understand. Please help me out with these.
Moving on, I spotted a boy's head partially bowing to the right. I wondered about the rest of the painting and took a little more time to find the eagle facing left above the boy's head. I take that as a Philippine eagle which is one of the nation's symbol.
The second to the last painting has stumps with roots and shoots that seem trying hard to survive. Or maybe striving to bring hope.
Last but not the least painting is keeping things simple. Just make your door colorful and starry anytime of the day!
Those are just few of the things to discover along Session Road on an early Sunday morning. Not to mention the absence of crowd so you can enjoy the view before the jam packs in.