Tapestry Paintings

The bark-like tapestries is a technique I developed using dye and textile paint instead of the usual stretched canvas. This is an expression of my adherence to indigenous forms which complement the subject and theme of my artwork. I want to achieve the effect that when viewed, the entire surface has the feel and look of figures emerging from South East Asian hand woven cloth and figures. Prevailing at present in harmonious confluence with the laws of the universe, of nature and myth as it exist in the tribal world, woven into the nature of things and expressed in designs so long known from the memory of our ancestors.

The tapestries retell their myths and rituals, artistic expressions that celebrate indigenous culture. The whole expanse is covered with a rich overlay of multifarious motifs, such as cloud scallops, triangles of mountain ranges, radiating forms of land marks and landscape contours, flame-like and leaf-like shapes from wild plants and vines, flowing rivers, dance which, create pulsating rhythms on the visualized ground.

These are inspired by the costumes, jewelry, tattoos, carvings, brass work and artifacts of the Lumad and Moro communities where I have immersed deeply. Like in the okir for example, these decorative motifs constitute larger designs and span areas with their vivid patterns.

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