Sail away

Presenting, Balanghai, by Leo Gerardo Leonardo, another one from the BGC art installation series (There are apparently 7 of them, not 5 as I'd originally said. Whoops! Five down, 2 more to go!). The Balanghai is a kinetic sculpture that moves with the wind and was inspired by balanghay, the name of the boat that carried the first Malays to the island. The sails represent the three major islands in the Philippines: Luzon (where Manila is), Visayas and Mindanao.

Circle of Life

"The Trees," by Reynato Paz Contreras. Meant to depict the circle of life, the sculpture is of three interlocking trees whose branches reach towards the sky, creating a dome. It's one of the installations in Bonifacio Global City. I've featured the other art installations here. There are five in the series. Four down, one more to go!

Supremo, once more

I posted the art installation entitled " Ang Supremo" in a previous entry before, but I felt the photo didn't do Ben-Hur Villanueva's art work enough justice. Here's another angle to it, and this time it features Lakambini, wife of Andres Bonifacio.

Supremo

This is yet another art installation in Bonifacio Global City (I've featured one here and another here. There are five of these scattered all over the area and looking for them has been like a treasure hunt of sorts). This 3-meter high brass-bronze installation by Ben-Hur G. Villanueva is called "Ang Supremo." It is a tribute to Andres Bonifacio, generally considered to be the Founder of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. The scene shows Bonifacio holding up a torn "cedula" or resident tax certificate, in defiance of the Spanish colonial rule. Andres Bonifacio is called The Great Plebeian. Despite (or maybe because) of his humble beginnings, he was able to lead the Filipinos in the struggle for independence.

Three down, two more to go!

Suffer the little children

Here's another art installation in Bonifacio Global City. I posted an installation featuring fishermen a while back and apparently, that, along with this one, is part of Bonifacio Art Foundation's public arts program. The foundation provides public arts programs for residents of Bonifacio Global City, a former military property. The art installation featuring fishermen is called "Pasasalamat," (literally, Thanksgiving) and it's made by Ferdie Cacnio from welded brass, as a tribute to our Filipino fishermen.

This one is called "Kasaysayan Bawat Oras" (History Every Hour) by Juan Sajid de Leon. This 16-meter brass and cement sculpture is actually a sundial, and the seven paper-like dolls represent the 7,107 islands of the Philippines.

(On a side note: I'm really glad I started In Manila. I discover things about my city that I don't think I would have if I hadn't started this blog. I didn't even know about the arts program until today! I'll definitely be on the lookout for the rest of the foundation's art installations. There's around 5 more around Bonifacio Global City, I think.)

A little tribute to our fisherfolk

Here's a little tidbit I found out: Fishing is a Php 50billion industry in the Philippines (that's roughly $1 billion) and makes up about 4% of our country's Gross National Product. Wow. If you ask any Filipino, the tastiest seafood comes from the Visayas region, especially in Roxas or Iloilo City (Visayas is an hour or so by plane from Manila). Fish, shrimp, crabs, you name it, they've got it.