11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

feature on the vibrant woven bukabok (lidded baskets) made by Iranun artists Ulih Acub, Maimona Kusain and Minal P Salunsun in the municipality of Sultan Kudarat. The baskets can be used for marriage ceremonies and to hold aromatic rice or corn, and indicate the importance of food and ritual to ceremonial occasions. For both the Lumad and Moro, there is no name for ‘art’ as an overarching term, as it is integrated into the ‘lifeways’ of the communities. Knowledge of place and the artists’ everyday realities is important to understanding their works. The materials and techniques they use are expressions that give tangible form to imagination, concepts and meanings. 8 While Lumad works of art are often described at the national level as ‘living tradition’, embodying longevity of practice and cultural identity, many Lumad artists — including Alfred (Soy) Sarino, Salima Saway Agran-an and Chong Tecson — demonstrate that innovation can also be tradition, and that it is never static. Saway Agra-an creates ‘soil paintings’ using 14 shades of ochre from a sacred mountain near her ancestral lands in Bukidnon, Northern Mindanao. Over the past four decades, soil painting has become a Talaandig communal art form that crosses generations. Saway’s ‘Cultural fragility’ series of 2024 includes references to epic chants, mythologies, cultural practices and laws, and advocates for an indigenous way of life, knowledge and stewardship of the land. Chong Tecson is a Talaandig artist whose hand- carved musical instruments include variations on the boat lute, or kudlong, said to connect heaven and Earth. Weaving is one of the major forms of cultural expression practised by Lumad peoples and is inseparable from their identity. As a child, Alfred Sarino of the Blaan people was trained by late GAMABA–awarded artist Fu Yabing Masalon Dulo (1914–2021) to weave tabih — abaca ikats made with a backstrap loom and coloured with natural dyes. 9 Sarino became one of the first men to receive this sacred knowledge. 10 Tnalak are also made from abaca by the Tboli, whose artists are often referred to as ‘dream-weavers’, as they receive new motifs in their dreams from the goddess Fu Dalu. Yab Trulan Man and Noemi Ofong live near Lake Sebu, an area heavily marketed by the tourism industry for its weaving heritage. Yab Trulan Man’s Yê Kumù (known as the ‘mother of all blankets’) is the most prized of the tnalak, associated with wedding and unions, and shows three conjoined panels bordered by a bed kekem motif on either side (the branches of the kekem tree serve as a path to heaven). Noemi Ofong’s tnalak is called denoli and features a dewekel motif of a crocodile or water spirit. Over time, as settlers have changed the way of life in Mindanao, such cultural and spiritual practices have become commercialised, while knowledge of these motifs and spiritual connotations is not widely understood. To counter this, in some cases artists are choosing to keep their highest quality weavings within their community; for others, however, selling their work is necessary for survival. The plurality of voices that occupy the varied landscapes of Mindanao is evident in the artworks of its settler-root artists (those born in Mindanao from settler migration) — from Joel Geolamen’s textile landscapes that assert solidarity with indigenous land rights, to Judelyn Villarta’s image of Bukidnon’s unique cultural festivals NOTES 1 Between 2023 and 2024, Abe Garcia, Al-Nezzar Ali and Emi Englis travelled together over several research trips, building on new and existing contacts and networks, to the regions of SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos), Davao Region (Davao City and Santo Tomas in Davao del Norte), ZAMBASULTA (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) subregion and BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) in the islands, and the BARMM in the mainland — Maguindnao del Sur, Municipality of Sultan Kudarat (Maguindanao del Norte), Cotabato City, and Municipality of Tugaya (Lanao del Sur) and Northern Mindanao (Valencia City and Lantapan in Bukidnon). 2 As Oona Paredes indicates, neither ‘Moro’ nor ‘Lumad’ originated as indigenous terms of self-reference, and both terms have distinct political connotations. See Oona Paredes, ‘Rivers of memory and oceans of difference in the Lumad world of Mindanao’, TRaNS: Trans- Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , vol. 4, no. 2, 2016, pp.329–49. 3 Paredes. 4 Arumpac also points to the way in which the Moro have been misrepresented through ‘the collusion of state, media, and capitalists as rebels and terrorists’ in order to justify atrocities against them. See: Adjani Arumpac, ‘Regenerative documentary: Posthuman art in the context of the Philippine drug war’, Plaridel , vol. 17, no. 1, pp.111–42. 5 The okir, or ukkil, is combined in multiple variations in Moro artworks, to suggest waves, flowers, vines and leaves, as well as the sarimanok (mythical bird) and the naga (serpent), while avoiding direct representation. 6 On weaving and gender, see Cherubim Quizon, ‘Blaan textiles and their changing contexts in Mindanao’, Textiles Asia , vol. 12, no. 1, 2020, pp.15–22. 7 In 2019, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was established after decades-long peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. 8 While Lumad artists are deeply attached to place and locale, they are also capable of ‘placemaking’ when displaced. See Clod Marlan Krister Yambao, Sarah Wright, Noah Theriault and Rosa Castillo, ‘“I am the land and I am their witness”: Placemaking amid displacement among Lumads in the Philippines’, Critical Asian Studies , vol. 54, no. 2, 2022, pp.1–23. 9 Paredes explores how the states’ requirements for being recognised as ‘indigenous’ often compel indigenous people to conform to stereotypes, and is altering the nature of ancestral traditions. See Oona Paredes, ‘Preserving “tradition”: The business of indigeneity in the modern Philippine context’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , vol. 50, no. 1, 2019, pp.86–106. 10 Curator and collector Leonardo ‘Bing’ Cariño has been instrumental in supporting male weavers, including Sarino, as well as Tboli weaver Agustin Sudaw in Lake Sebu (South Cotabato) and Iranun weaver Moamar Ali Bansil in Sultan Kudarat (Maguindanao del Norte). and Mijan Jumalon’s exploration of place and people’s movement in semi-surrealist compositions referencing indigenous architecture and space. Raymond (Jong) Tangiday’s carved vessels depict migrants or travellers huddled together in small boats from a mythical pre- colonial era. Piguras Davao are a painting collective whose recent collaborative and epic diptych, The Silent Witness 2019, explores Mindanao’s historical melting pot of cultures, anchoring disparate compositional elements through a flowing fabric that features Moro bunga sama diamonds and Lumad tnalak geometries alongside samurai, conquistadors, hamburgers and spirits. The Philippines is an archipelago of many regional centres. The nation’s cultural identity has been fluid, flexible and adaptable throughout its history. This sense of movement, of roots and uprooting, waves and migration, is echoed in many of the artworks included in this project, from the Taguri paintings, tondaan boats and unbroken unity of geometries and circling vines, to the physical movement of the artists themselves — in many cases away from their birthplaces or the homes of their ancestors. In bringing together these diverse artists and their works, Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago: Roots and Currents touches on issues of cultural misrepresentation, indigenous identity, peace and conflict, displacement, land rights and art and activism that resonate locally and at an international level. Finally, the project aims to give visibility to the marginalised, and open minds to unfamiliar territories. ABIGAIL BERNAL +ABRAHAMAMBOGARCIA JR (left to right) Judelyn Villarta / The Philippines b.1995 / Bukidnon cultural gathering 2024 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 152.4 × 152.4cm / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Bequest of Noela Clare Deutscher, in memory of her parents, A Evans Deutscher and Clare Deutscher, through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art; Mijan Jumalon / The Philippines b.1985 / Soultrade 2024 / Oil on canvas / 76.2 × 121.9cm; Purchased 2024 with funds from the Bequest of Noela Clare Deutscher, in memory of her parents, A Evans Deutscher and Clare Deutscher, through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art; Julie Lluch / The Philippines b.1946 / Sunrise for Adi 2023 / Cold-cast marble and acrylic / 40 × 50 x 23cm / Courtesy: The artist ARTISTS+PROJECTS 152 — 153 ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL