The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, 1996 : Report

Mark Justiniani presented works from his recent series' White rain'. This series comments on the colonisation of The Philippines by foreign invaders who gradually eroded the traditional Philippine culture to replace it with their own . The works are made from Philippine Jeepney decoration and signage. Jeepneys (reconstructed jeeps, left behind by the US army after World War I I) are the most popular form of public transport in Manila. A number of Justiniani's works comment on the Spanish colonisation and the subsequent American domination, whilst others refer to current Philippine political issues, i ncluding continuing Western cultural influence . The work Edukado refers to Philippine people who, although highly educated, cannot prevent the erosion of their indigenous culture . The figure in this work is holding an umbrella, which cannot protect him from the 'white' rain literally flooding the image . The apple in the colours of the American flag refers to the American education system in The Philippines in which children were introduced to letter 'A' of the English alphabet by the word 'apple' , at a time when apples were not available in The Philippines. Jose Tence Ruiz, a politically-motivated artist, constructed an installation work based on the traditional Philippine fiesta game Pabitin. In the traditional game, the operator repeatedly lowers and raises the suspended bamboo frame as the participants jump to reach the prizes attached to the frame. In this instal lation, the Pabitin prizes are three-dimensional representations of consumer durables and other items desired by working people, with particular reference to the Philippine overseas contract workers. Jose Tence Ruiz has made this work a collective project by commissioning several Philippine artists to make the Pabitin prizes. With the enthusiastic participation of the public a Pabitin game performance took place on 29 September. The artist said about the work: The Pabitin is a stylistic cousin of the Mexican Pinata, and is redolent with readings about ambition, aspiration, colonialism, migration, treachery and manipulation and the sheer grit of physically exerting to attain a goal . . . I wil l ask strangers to make a leap, not without a reward . I hope for fun and insight, unlikely as this pair may seem. 18