CHARLES T.

BAMUYA BSCESEP-3B VISUAL ART

NAGKABURUGKOS
Manuel Cadag, December 2012

I. DESCRIPTION

Family Bonding In Bicol

This painting is the entry in karangahan festival that celebrated in Legazpi City last
December 2012. I won the 2nd prize. I chose the title "nagkaburugkos" means bonding
family. Members of the family had designated rules. A father being the foundation of the
family his responsibility to support his children for being a fisherman and a farmer as the
source of their living. A mother is responsibe for the households or sometimes a part time
worker in abaca plantation. And their kids help their parents to sell the products. Cooking
foods or furniture making is
one of the sources of their income. They are happy helping each other while living in a
remote area in Bicol region.
 CHARLES T. BAMUYA BSCESEP-3B VISUAL ART

II. ANALYSIS
Manuel Cadag produced this artwork, titled "Nagkaburugkos," which means "bonded family." In
this artwork, the father is the family's foundation, and it is his responsibility to support his
children's livelihoods as fishermen and farmers. The mother is in charge of the household or
works part-time at an abaca farm. Their children are seen in the lower portion of the image, and
they assist their parents in selling their wares. One of their sources of revenue is the production
of food or furnishings. They are content to support one other while living in a rural part in Bicol.
They are happy helping each other while living in a remote area in Bicol region. It is obvious the
other painted this painting to express his opinion on how important family bonding is. Save the
family article said that family bonding is crucial. Amazing things can happen when a family
comes together, a family that bonds together will be a family that is united forever. The way the
world is paced and going about works against families being united and bonded together. “In
October, my family and I camped by ourselves in the top of a tree that grew above a pool in
Freestone Brook. We were eighty feet over the water” (Preston243). In the book Preston went in
depth about one of the characters and the way that they are close with their families. Through the
book every character that I have met has been deeply in love with trees. So this particular
character called Michael motivated his family to fall in love with trees just the way he does.
Michael climbs trees on a daily therefore his family automatically adapted all the way from his
wife to his wife and his three children. So when the love of tress spread it allowed a form of
bonding to form in the family which caused them to all want to start climbing trees together. Just
like in the painting the family bonded together doing something they loved. Also what was a
great connection that is clearly seen when one reads this part of the text and looks very carefully
at the painting?  The family in the painting lives in an environment where nature is surrounding
their home and they use it to live their life. Just as the same way Michael and his family live
were nature is surrounding their home and they have actually grown a love for it.

III. INTERPRETATION

The connection that was made between this picture and me made me realize how lucky I am to
have such a wonderful family. To begin with, the family in the artwork is clearly a foreign
family; they are not from the United States, but rather from somewhere in South America. The
point is that they, like mine, are a foreign family. My ancestors are from Ghana, a West African
country. As depicted in the artwork, the family is coming together and doing something that will
benefit not just them but the entire family. It reminds me of the same traits I see in my family. It
depicts the father clutching a fish. That is to say, the father leaves. The only thing that I can
closely relate this man in the painting to my father is because my father works at a retirement
home from morning to evening and it might seem as an easy task but it is far from that. The
mother in the painting is has food that has just been prepared in one hand and what looks to be a
broom in the other. It may be obvious that a woman who is married will automatically have to
clean or to cook food. But sadly there are homes where the mother does not do that, but either
has a maid or a servant done it from them. Even though there is not anything wrong with that it
 CHARLES T. BAMUYA BSCESEP-3B VISUAL ART

draws away from the mother and the duties those she posses. My mother always does the
cleaning and cooking, and it allows me to bond with her because I always help her. The two
siblings are learning and then the other sibling is selling the parents product. This reminds me of
my family because, my siblings and I work every day and are work is to go to school and learn.
Also with the boy selling the parent’s product it reminds me off how my parents have a business
and we always help them sell and promote their products. This entire painting is just a really a
happy and traditional scene of how families are supposed to be.

IV. JUDGEMENT
My judgement on this art: many people said that this is an ordinary portrait, but overall I saw a
portrait of a precious family picture of how they lived in their everyday life, how they survived,
and the father’s being hardworking for his family. What each member of the family rules, and
how they treat one another. The simple way of living in this world

REFERENCES:
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/family-bonding-in-bicol-manuel-cadag.html
https://africangold101.wordpress.com/other-text-3/