Minamahal kong Pilipinas exhibit brings Filipino stories to KPU gallery

Kwantlen Polytechnic University fine arts students create a love letter exhibit to the Philippines.

Minamahal kong Pilipinas, or Dear Philippines, is on display at the Spruce Gallery on the Surrey campus. The exhibit features ceramics, print, textiles, and canvas art pieces.

Curator Ira Espita chose to open the exhibition on the Philippines’ independence day, June 12, to honour the day her home country gained independence from Spanish colonial rule in 1898.

“I think we have a very quiet community here in KPU,” Espita says. “We want this to be a safe space.”

She adds that art is often unique to the community it was created in.

“If you go to Thailand or Japan, everyone has their own mark. You know [an art piece] is from there because of how they express themselves through that form.”

The exhibit’s opening reception included a letter writing station where attendees could write letters to their home country and paste them on the wall.

Many of the installations explore the Filipino diaspora, identity, colonization, and politics.

Fine arts graduate Vin Cuadra created a photo installation using archival footage from the 1986 People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution.

“The People Power Revolution was the overthrow of a dictatorship back in the Philippines,” Cuadra says.

Their piece, “Monument of Three Stars and a Sun, 1986,” is based on the Filipino flag, with overlaying pictures before, during, and after the revolution.

“I overlay them to create a narrative that is ambiguous as well, … I really wanted to focus on the more political side of my country’s culture and its people,” he says.

Eloisa Mae Uy has three ceramics pieces on display at the exhibit: “Sapin ng Limot, Sapin ng Bakal” (Layers of Forgetting, Layers of Steel), “Lāi-bīn kap Gōa bīn/Loob at Panlabas” (Inside and External Surface), and “Duyan ng Agos” (Cradle of Waves).

The ceramics are handbuilt using earthenware clay, with steel wire and acrylic.

Uy says the pieces are inspired by her Chinoy identity, a slang word used for Chinese-Filipinos.

“Mainly for my art, my pieces are about childhood, self-identity, and memories in the Philippines,” says Uy, who was born and raised in the Philippines capital, Manila.

She adds that she chose ceramics as her medium because the materials are raw and from the Earth.

Luigi Pulido, who attended the exhibit’s opening reception, says one of his favourite works is Rhianzey Soriano’s “Magtanim ay Di Biro, Ode to Home,” which means planting is no joke .

“It’s not a joke to actually go in the field and work, especially with the measly wages that many farmers are getting,” Pulido says.

“I think that really resonates with me [because] when we think about a love for the Philippines, there’s also a love for the people who keep the Philippines going.”

The Minamahal kong Pilipinas exhibit is on display until July 10.