Pamahiin / Ritual This!
a ritualistic rebel dreaming action for my kapwa on the journey towards decolonization
Photo: J.T. Beals, 1904 World's Fair
"Filipino-Canadian artists examine their personal stories, whilst exposing a shared exploration of rituals and superstitions and the role it plays on cultural identity and history." - KULTURA 2012
Pamahiin/Ritual: the 7th Annual KULTURA Visual Art Exhibition featuring:
Jo SiMalaya Alcampo
My Own Time Collective
Catherine Mary Zagar
Maureen Mendoza
and Tim Manalo
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Artist Statement:
"We carry the mysteries of our ecologies and their diversity in our oral traditions, in our ceremonies, and in our art; we unite these mysteries in the structure of our languages and our ways of knowing." - Marie Battiste and Sa'ke'j Henderson Pamahiin / Ritual This! - a ritualistic rebel dreaming action for my kapwa on the journey towards decolonization is an interactive mixed media installation that explores how Filipino artists and cultural workers can actively engage with Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices as ritual, while not becoming "culture-vultures" of our own kultura. How do we explore the indigenous in each of us without engaging in a romanticization of the "past", the "native", the "indigenous on display"? As viewers investigate the installation, they encounter an Ifugao boy holding the release cable for a large box camera. The boy is "on display" with his family at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair - the event featuring human exhibitions of tribal peoples from 50 nations, half were Filipinos. The indigenous boy is in control of the camera. He captures our "ghosts" and places us "on display" inside a glass jar. The jar stands alongside Ifugao Bulol offering bowls that encourage us to explore what is lost and what is found through ritual. Reference: Marie Battiste, James (Sa'ke'j) Youngblood Henderson, Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing Ltd., 2000). |
from the KULTURA 2012 program:
Jo SiMalaya Alcampo is an interdisciplinary artist who explores cultural/body memory and the healing of intergenerational soul wounds through community storytelling, installation-based art, and electroacoustic soundscapes. Jo recently presented her work at the KAPWA-3 Conference: “Indigenous Knowledge in the Academe – Bridging Local And Global Paradigms” at the University of the Philippines in Baguio City. Jo made the journey with a group of Filipino-Canadian healers, artists, and critical thinkers from Toronto - Christine Balmes, Aimee Gomez, Jennifer Maramba, and Kristen Sison and have formed the Kapwa Collective to share the learning process with their communities. Pamahiin / Ritual This! is one offering. |
opening reception
maraming salamat/many thanks for supporting our opening on August 17, 2012
for sharing ghost images, lost and found stories, thoughtful explorations
of the indigenous in each of us, and for bringing love, T'boli bells and ulam! - jsa
Pamahiin/Ritual - 7th Annual KULTURA Visual Art Exhibition
runs to August 31 @ Kapisanan Arts Centre
Gallery hours Weds & Thurs 12-8 PM or by appointment
for sharing ghost images, lost and found stories, thoughtful explorations
of the indigenous in each of us, and for bringing love, T'boli bells and ulam! - jsa
Pamahiin/Ritual - 7th Annual KULTURA Visual Art Exhibition
runs to August 31 @ Kapisanan Arts Centre
Gallery hours Weds & Thurs 12-8 PM or by appointment
