Magwayen Rises
According to Visayan mythology, in the beginning, there were two entities that represented heaven and abyss. The Magwayen, goddess of the ocean and the abyss, argued with Kaptan, the god of the sky. In anger, Kaptan hurled rocks at her, which eventually became the Philippine Islands. This legend explains the creation of the Philippine Islands.
The Filipina Beauty
Stand tall. Your value is not defined but what others have said about you but how tall and straight you are able to stand by yourself. Lost is temporary and it does not mean defeat.
To walk the hard path filled with thorns can scar and leave wounds. But you will bloom because you accepted both the right and wrongs.
Your spirit will create a garden that will make you radiant enough to make others shine as well.
Playdate
In his acrylic on canvas Playdate, Melchor Bernaldo reveals that longing comes in all colors and play. He invites us to an expansive landscape rendered in all colors imaginable: striking greens, reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, violets, and blues wash over the foliage of a forest underneath an equally bright sky. In the distance, one can make out the shadows of a mountain range, all while a narrow stream cuts across the landscape. This vividness in color parallels the vibrant energy of children seen in play, all lively and merry amid the colorful magic of the enchanting forest.
Yet one finds quiet traces of longing beneath the explosive colors and activity of Playdate. The landscape is so beautiful that it borders on the utopic, as if yearning for beauty that one can only wish to attain. It also seems to long for something more – perhaps the outdoors, perhaps a past that is carefree and easy, far from the dullness and worries mercilessly hounding us today. As we enter yet another month of quarantine, Playdate mirrors our collective yearning for serenity and reprieve – bathed in all colors imaginable, no least.
