A review of Tala Isla-Contreras’ third solo exhibit, Babae: Buhay at Kalikasan, mounted last July 29 and running up to Aug. 30, 2008 at the Contreras Sculptures, The Artwork 4/F Bldg. A, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.
Babae: Buhay at Kalikasan is Isla-Contreras’ attempt to show the Filipina in her different roles: the mother, the economist, the guide, the guard, the preserver of nature, the observer, the cantadora or the singer-storyteller of the ancient history of her society where she is not separated but connected, and as the representation of Mother Nature herself.
BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
CULTURE
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 27, August 10-16, 2008
Being a female in a semi-feudal society like the Philippines is quite difficult. It is as though they do not own their bodies, their minds, their souls.
Even in art, femaleness is always categorized with the erotic: nudity, with the attempt to stir the wild imaginations of the male counterpart.
What is sad is that even some female artists themselves exalt the erotic over everything else. As if nudity is the only liberation that a woman can get and as if sexuality and sensuality are the only emotions that can make a woman whole.
But there are exceptions to the rule, of course. And Ms. Estrella “Tala” V. Isla-Contreras’ Babae: Buhay at Kalikasan (Woman: Life and Nature), her third solo exhibition, of is one of those few exceptions.
Babae: Buhay at Kalikasan is Isla-Contreras’ attempt to show the Filipina in her different roles: the mother, the economist, the guide, the guard, the preserver of nature, the observer, the cantadora or the singer-storyteller of the ancient history of her society where she is not separated but connected, and as the representation of Mother Nature herself.
Not stereotypical
Although Isla-Contreras had used the typical mother figure in her works, her Ilaw ng Tahanan (Light of the Home), what made it atypical is that the author had expanded the role of the mother, not only as the excellent homemaker (as depicted in Reyna ng Kusina or Queen of the Kitchen) but rather the guardian of the family structure.
The smaller house attached to the bigger structure with a small lamp hanging on the side, seems to be symbolizing—and can be attributed to the woman who seems looking for something from a far—the contribution of the woman in developing a stronger societal structure, since the family is the smallest unit of that wholeness.
On one hand, Inang Mapag-aruga or the Loving Mother (note: the mother without the child), depicts the Cordillera’s babbaket or the elderly women, whose wisdom is often sought by the young not only in rearing the children or taking care of their homes, but for their experiences in farms and as keepers of the traditions and the history/story of the tribe.
The artist’s objective of concretizing the “partnership” of men and women in making up a true home is what made the Kaagapay (Companion) come into being.
Maybe, it is the deep Christian faith that has moved the artist into making the Kaagapay, as Paul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) said in one of his writings, “Husbands, love your wives,” which is the elusive ideal in a feudal or macho society like the Philippines (Read: the misinterpretation of the “power” given to man by Yahweh and the order of St. Paul to the Corinthian women to be “submissive to their husbands.”)
