From The Archives
Balak
Spoken Word and Ritual
BALAC in Mentrida is a Visayan word that signifies “many different genres or forms of poetry.” It includes spoken word that praises or vituperates, or words that are sung, performed or orated (“quien dize o haze o cante”). In another Spanish entry, BALAC is also made to include the ORASYON – or spoken prayer in a ritual.
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Working with one form of performance involving the spoken word, this video documents some of the healing rituals of Siquijor. Using ethnographic data from her research in the Island, Dr Mansueto explores the various healing rituals that the island is famous for. She also looks at the place of the orasyon – the spoken word – and its place in ritual performance in pre-colonial Visayan society.
Josel B. Mansueto has a PhD in Instructional System and Resource Management from the University of San Jose-Recoletos, Cebu City
2006. She is a Professor at the Siquijor State College. and is a member of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP)
and the Philippine Sociological Society (PSS).
Art and Practice
The Artist as Healer
In this recorded presentation of his art, Junel Tumaroy looks at the confluence of his art practice with his own role as a ritual healer in Siquijor.
Junel Tumaroy is the Vice President of Association of Siquijor Healers and President of Siquijod Massage and Pahiuli Artists Collective. His inspiration for his art is the promotion of the Philippine National Living Treasure in the Fielf of Ethono Medicine and its Traditional Healing Practices and Rituals. Some of my art works contains an authentic traditional healing materials. Like real amulets and real healers oil. And some are my interpretation of living Siquijor living methology like the one breasted fairy namr “ISA” which is the protector of the island and one of the Healers “abyan” or spiritual teacher. For me anything and everything has iys own unique beauty and value.
Art and Practice
Mga Balak ni Adonis Durado
Multi-awarded poet Adonis Dorado does a reading of his Cebuano poem, Kabilin. The reading is followed by a reading in English by Reverend Michael Liming.
Art and Practice
Epic Chanting
In this video, visual artist Liby Limoso works with epic chanter, Leopoldo Caballero, Sugidanun Epic Chanter from Garangan Calinog, Iloilo. He is performing an excerpt from Tikong Kadlum, the first story in the series of Sugidanun. Tikong Kadlum (Black Dog), tells the story of the hunting spree of Datu Paiburong, the cutting of the priced buriraw nga kawayan (a yellow-colored variety of bamboo), and the heavy payment demanded by the man-eating monster, Makabagting, from Datu Paiburong for the crashing of his prized burugsak (gold bell).
Liby Limoso, born in Lambunao, Iloilo, is a visual artist and educator. His interests in local language, place, identity, memory and spirituality led him to work on documenting and visualizing the oral tradition of Panay mythology, making the oral visual and the absent present. He finished Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) at U.P. Diliman in 2001 and was a recipient of the Dominador Castañeda Best Thesis Award. In 2010 he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Design with a Certificate in Time Based and Interactive Media and a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts as a Ford Foundation International Fellow. His teaching experience include UP College of Fine Arts in Diliman and Central Philippine University, Digital Media and Interactive Arts in Iloilo. He was head of the University of San Agustin Iloilo, Fine Arts Program from 2014-2017.
Liby had participated in the Visayan Islands Visual Arts Exhibit Conference (VIVA ExCon) exhibitions in the past. He was represented in the exhibit Turns in Form curated by Patrick Flores for VIVA ExCon Iloilo 2016, and Conjunctions of Meaning and Place, curated by Green Papaya Art Projects for VIVA ExCon Capiz 2018. He is part of the curatorial team for Kalibutan: The World in Mind exhibit VIVA ExCon Bacolod 2020-21. They are working on a complementary project of cosplay and retablo to present characters from the world of Panay Island indigenous people’s mythology.
Art and Practice
Unang Balak ni Antonio Pigafetta
While performance art is Roy Lu’s focus, he also does installations and other object-based art which have been exhibited in local galleries and artist-run spaces. He notably performed in Art en direct: Art en ruines, a collaboration between Galerie Nouvel Ontario, Debajehmujig Storytellers and 4elements Living arts in Wiikwemkoong unceded territory, the largest Anishnaabek community on Manitoulin Island
Balak
Spoken Word and Ritual
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