Challenging Filipino Colonial Mentality with Philippine Art

For 350 years, the Philippines was colonized by Spain and the United States. The Philippines became a sovereign
nation in 1946 yet, fifty years later, colonial teachings continue to oppress Filipinos due to their colonial mentality
(CM.) CM is an internalized oppression among Filipinos in which they experience an automatic preference for
anything Western—European or U.S. American—and rejection of anything Filipino. Although Filipinos show signs of a
CM, there are Filipinos who are challenging CM by engaging in Philippine art. Philippine art is defined as Filipino-
made visual art, literature, music, and dance intended to promote Philippine culture. This research project analyzes
the Philippine art community and discovers that those involved in the Philippine art community are conscious of how
colonialism dictates standards today. They also actively challenge colonial affects by creating and/or supporting
artists whom promote Filipino cultures. However, Philippine art’s ability to decrease CM among Filipinos is not evenly
accessible among classes. (Francesca Mateo, 2016)

This paper explores the contemporary art landscape of the Philippines, mapping its multiplicity
across local terrains and within definitions of regionality and the art market. It discusses the
ruptures that have caused this landscape to shift intermittently, spawning new networks and
value structures that are less defined by the frame of ‘nation-based identity’ favoured in the
past, and instead locates difference within the experimentation, historiographies, and pace of
this contemporary ‘art scene’. It highlights flashpoints and uses case studies across the last five
years in particular to illustrate that Philippine artists, art scenes and art markets are highly
reflective of cross-civilizational cultural flows, alert to global trends and of their own currency
within regional markets. This paper does not seek to provide a comprehensive overview but
rather draws a map of some potent changes and significant players in this contemporary
landscape. (Gina Farley, 2012)