The 445th Singkaban Festival was month long event held annually to celebrate to founding of the province of Bulacan and comes along with the series of activities highlighting the culture and history of the province that took place last August 15- September 17, 2023. You can see the list of activities on this Facebook Post. Part of this activities was an art Exhibit with the title "BELEZZA: The Interplay of Aesthetic Sense Featuring the Art Works of Lumina Art Group" displayed at the provincial History, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office of Bulacan.
As someone who works outside the province even half day during weekends, as much as I want to, it was really not part of my schedule to celebrate the occasion but I got a call from a friend who was still on college to help him buy and install a new GPU for his computer. So right after work, I travel straight to Malolos where I was gonna meet him near his university. After meeting, we eat first at KFC (Kapitolyo Food Court) where many food stalls offer cheap but delicious food then we went to the H.A.C.T. Office where he returns a book that he borrows as reference for his thesis before we go to the computer store and while waiting for him, I got to observed the beautiful artworks by the Lumina Art Group for a brief moment.
Upon entering the building, the first thing that greeted me was this entrance made of Bamboo craftsmanship which are really well made. When I was a child, there were many place in Bulacan that made their living with making Bamboo and other wood crafts but as the time goes, it becomes lesser and lesser so I'm really glad that there were still keeping the craft alive.
The exhibit displays a multitude of colorful paintings that are either made by ink or oil paint. It was definitely a food for the eyes but my stay on the building was nothing but brief so I was not able to capture them individually together with my low camera and poor photography skills but you can still see the talent and loved that the artist put on their paintings.
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That said, I would like to highlight a few which have really caught my attention not only because they were beautiful but also the message they get across with me.
This painting portrays an image of a beautiful sunset that shines within a squatter's area that have piled up and became very tall that it covers the rest of the background. While the artist made the house very colorful and 3D like that you think you can take it off the painting, it also address the issue of housing which have existed in many areas of the country.
This painting shows a picture of dried Herring we call "Tuyo" which is a preserved food that can last a very long time. It has a very salty taste so we usually eat it with Tomatoes or or a sauce made with a mixture of made of vinegar and soy sauce which we often partner with our version of champorado (sweet porridge with cocoa and glutinous rice served with evaporated milk) but can also be eaten with rice. It was not a bad food by any means, it was known as the poor mans dish that what families on poverty line buy for most of their daily consumption.
This was a painting of Mayon Volcano which was located in Albay, Bicol renowned from its "perfect cone" shape and a very popular tourist spot. In front of it, you can see a building but that was actually a part of the church which have been covered up with lava as the volcano erupts until it was only this part of the church was visible. My mom was from Bicol and when I was a child, we visit our relatives in Bicol during vacation time but I was able to view the volcano while riding a bus and was not able to return on Bicol since 2012 but I hope I could visit once again and this time would also take a tour on this famous place.
This beautiful sight of the rice field was definitely a sight to behold. An abundant harvest of this golden- yellow grains and the farmers that are harvesting them which will be dried into the sun and process on milling machines will turn into the white rice that was the staple food for us Filipinos. Which makes to reminds me how we used to be one of the major producer of rice in the continent and even sent our farmers to other countries to teach them how to plant rice but now, we become the top importer of rice and that despite this, the price of our rice remains high that make it hard for people to afford this staple food.
On the second picture also has the beautiful scenery of this golden- yellow field but we can also see a man playin a guitar to a woman. This is what we call "Harana" and a traditional way of courting, another thing tradition that people does not do anymore nowadays so its another thing that makes me feel sad despite the beauty of the paintings that I saw.
It was but a brief moment and I barely spent half an hour to se the exhibit but overall, it was a great sight to see and it was a 30 minutes that I get to enjoy. If I get another opportunity, I was hoping that I could take a longer look next time but for now, this will what I can show you for this weeks topic.
That was all for this post. Thank you for reading and see you for the next one.