If you’ve been following the news lately (and we hope you have been), you might’ve heard of the recent issue between the country and China, concerning foreign fishers spotted in our exclusive economic zone. This, just following the incident at Recto Bank involving a Chinese vessel hitting a Filipino fishing boat early this month.
If anything, these incidents, along with the government’s response, has only served to further aggravate local sentiment about our country’s “relationship” with China.
Anger is a natural response. But is it getting out of hand? Go on social media and you’ll see borderline (or even downright) xenophobic remarks. But it can’t be denied that our country has had long, historic ties with China, too.
So it is but timely to reexamine this connection we have: Archivo 1984 hosts the first solo exhibition of young queer artist Ginoe, entitled “The Kiln,” which opens today, Jun. 28.
The exhibit features several seres of works by Ginoe which attempt to “address the complexities [amid] political, social, and territorial issues our country faces today,” as described in a statement. “In ‘The Kiln,’ Ginoe challenges the viewer to re-assess and examine the inherent value we assign to people and objects at first glance. There’s more than what meets the eye.”
Among the works on exhibit are Ginoe’s “Citizen Series” which features portraits of young Filipinos with Chinese heritage. The portraits are an exploration of identity and an attempt to “humanize” the Filipino-Chinese of today.
Another set of portraits, called “Dissident Residents” depicts three artist-activists in several pieces of framed artworks, with each artist’s “group” of frames then arranged in the form of a pagoda.
Ginoe also explores a new medium with the life cast of a bangus featuring a leaping carp motif. This life cast is in white and blue, reminiscent of the colors of porcelain or china. The sculpture also juxtaposes the images of the two fish and the concepts it represents—the bangus, a fish bred for consumption, and the carp, a fish often associated with the symbolism of persistence and luck. (Interestingly, whether fish are from the Philippines or from China is an issue of much… discussion, right now.)
“The Kiln” opens Jun. 28 and runs until Jul. 20 at Archivo 1984.
Photos courtesy of Archivo 1984.
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