DEVELOPING

FILIPINO
IN THE ARTS
IDENTITY

Claire Antoinette A. Magalona

 Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students should
be able to:

1. Identify the historical background about the

Filipino as a people.
2. Describe the different races that the present
day Filipino came from.
3. Recognize the different factors that influenced
the Filipino identity.
 Rooting myself: An artist’s
personal inventory
1. Who am I?
2. What is the Philippines to me?
3. What is my relationship to my community/ country?
4. What are the art forms in my community?
5. As an artist, what can I contribute to my
community/country?
 IDENTIT
Y
Erik Erikson defined identity … as a
persistent sameness with oneself and a
persistent sharing of some kind of
essential character with others.
 THE FILIPINO IDENTITY
Filipino identity was created primarily as a result of pre-
colonial cultures, colonial influences and foreign traders
intermixing and gradually evolving together. Every
nation has its own identity and some are even part of a
larger empire outside of what is now the Philippines.
 THE FILIPINO IDENTITY
The term "Filipino" is originally meant a Spaniard born
of Spanish parents in the Philippines. The name was
given to distinguish them as a foreign-born and not a
peninsular Spaniards. Then, "Filipino" name only begun
to be applied to the Malay Filipino towards the end of
the Spanish regime.
 THE FILIPINO IDENTITY
Filipino are the people who are native to or citizens of the
country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various
Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups. Of the living languages,
175 are indigenous and 8 are non-indigenous.
The Philippines collectively are called Filipinos. The
ancestors of the vast majority of the population were of Malay
descent and came from the Southeast Asian mainland as well
as from what is now Indonesia. Contemporary Filipino society
consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically distinct
ethnic groups.
The majority of the people in the
Philippines are of Austronesian
descent who migrated from
Taiwan during the Iron Age. They
are called ethnic Filipinos. The
largest Filipino ethnic groups
include the Tagalog, Cebuano,
Ilocano, Bicolano, Kapampangan,
Maranao, Maguindanao, and
Tausug.(ENUMERATION)
 Filipino Malays
Though the ethnic Malays are part of the bigger Malay Race, Filipinos consider
Malays as being the natives of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Consequently, Filipinos consider themselves Malay when in reality they are
referring to the Malay Race.
 Maharlika
The Maharlika (meaning freeman or freedman) were the feudal warrior
class in ancient Tagalog society in Luzon, the Philippines. The Spanish
translated the name as Hidalgos (or libres).
 Hispanic Filipino
The Philippines is and the Filipinos are Hispanic, but not as conventionally
Hispanic as Latin America and Latinos. The Philippines is and the Filipinos
are Asian, but not as conventionally Asian as its neighbours in Southeast Asia
and Asia in general.
 FILIPINO SPANISH BLOOD
Currently only about 0.5 per cent of the Philippines' 100 million-strong
population speaks Spanish; however, it's still home to the most number
of Spanish speakers in Asia.

FILIPINO SPANISH NAMES

The names derive from the Spanish conquest of the Philippine Islands and its
implementation of a Spanish naming system. After the Spanish conquest of the
Philippine islands, many early Christianized Filipinos assumed religious-
instrument or saint names.
 PURE FILIPINO
In terms of genome and anthropological studies and research the
"pure Filipino" does not exist. The use of the term "Filipino" in the
Philippines started during the Spanish colonial period. The original
meaning was "a person of Spanish descent born in the Philippines."

FILIPINO
The word "Filipino" is spelled with an "F" because it's derived from
the Spanish name for the Philippine Islands: Las Islas Filipinas. ("Philip"
is Felipe in Spanish.) In English, however, the name was translated from
the Spanish as "the Philippine islands" or "the Philippines.”
ROOTING
ONE’S SELF
 Create an Essay of what you
want to be in the next 10 years
and how does that dream helps
our community or country.
 Personhood,
the Community
and the Arts
Pangarap Kong Maging
Rodelio “Toti” Cerda
What do we want to be?
What do we want for our
country and community?
FR. ALBERT E. ALEJO
Filipino Jesuit Priest theorizes on interiority
or loob as a way to engage with issues on
Filipino identity. His research Tao po! Tuloy!
Isang Landas ng Pag-unawa sa Loob ng Tao is
an attempt to seek answers to questions on
personhood. For Alejo, the loob subsumes all
properties of consciousness such as thinking
and feeling.
FR. LEONARDO N. MERCADO
Wrote a philosophical text that explains social
interactions based on Filipino worldviews (1994). In
The Filipino Mind (Mercado, 1994), his analysis of
identity and commonalities among Filipinos is based
on phrases used in everyday interactions. An
example is the aesthetic notion of beauty, elucidated
through the usage of the word "ganda." Mercado's
essay proposes that identity is inseparable from the
arts.
JAIME VENERACION
Filipino identity is not necessarily lost or non-existent.
There is no need to suffer an identity crisis. Historian
Jaime Veneracion asserts that even before the arrival of
Spanish colonizers vis-à-vis the Christianization of
several archipelagic inhabitants, links between interior
and coastal communities were already established (1997).
For Veneracion, the formation of the sambayanan (not
necessarily equivalent to a nation-state) is a long
historical process.
FLORO C. QUIBUYEN
For the hero Jose Rizal, there is a need for a kind of ethics that
transcends the imperatives of the state. For Rizal scholar Floro C.
Quibuyen, Rizal envisions a nation constituted by a proactive civil
society, not one burdened by the monstrosity of a nation-state that
dominates people at the expense of the underserved (1999). The
desired civil society is one guided by the moral and intellectual
leadership of the enlightened sector. For Quibuyen, the idea of an
internationally educated, Hispanic Rizal that desired assimilation was
only something manufactured under the American colonial project.
However, it must be noted that based on the exchanges between
Marcelo del Pilar and Rizal, the latter desired not assimilation but
total independence.
 "Culture is not only beneficial to
cities; in a deeper sense, it’s what cities
are for. A city without poets, painters
and photographers is sterile."
-Rebecca Solnit
 PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

Arts-based Placemaking is an integrative

approach to urban planning and
community building that stimulates local
economies and leads to increased
innovation, cultural diversity, and civic
engagement.
 PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

A place-based approach to art engages the

viewer’s affective dimension. The possibilities
include the activation of public spaces as places of
interaction, revitalized museum attendance and
patronage, and a renewed advocacy for natural
and built heritage.
 PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

Some examples include installation art

in parks, and open spaces, artistic
projects in heritage sites, and a range of
exhibitions in museums and galleries.
 PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

A Napoleon Abueva masterpiece outside the Commission on Audit in Quezon City. Photo by JOHN PAUL OLIVARES
 PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

“Homage to Noguchi” by Arturo Luz at the Ayala Center in Makati City. Photo by JOHN PAUL OLIVARES
EXAMPLE OF PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC
INTERVENTIONS
Ilocos is home to
artists who continue to
imbibe the pulse of
their locale in their art
practice.
FIDEL GO
Fidel Go of Vigan, Ilocos Sur continues the tradition
of burnayan.
Its name, Pagburnayan, comes
from the root word burnay. It
refers to the hand-crafted
earthenware pots made from
Vigan. Bantog clays, these are
called. They’re dug from the
western barangays of the city.
FIDEL GO
In 1998, he was one of the 100 Filipino artist given the
Centennial Award, a once-in-a-lifetime recognition for
local arists. The National Commission for Culture and
Arts declared him as a National Folk Artist.

Go’s Ruby Pottery is one of the two pottery factories

producing burnay in Pagburnayan, Vigan City. His works
find themselves displayed in several of the country’s plush
hotels reaching as far as Palawan and Davao in the south.
PRUDENCIO LAMARROZA
Prudencio Lamarroza is an Ilocano who painted the
Amburayan Queen in multiple renditions. In 1975, a 35-year
old Filipino artist, presented a solo exhibition already his sixth
- of his latest works bearing the unfamiliar title
"Amburayan." To most viewers, the term was a cipher, a
puzzle, a mystery. What intrigued the art audience, and the
media was the very title of the show. "Amburayan" had an
exotic ring, the sound of syllables foreign at least to a Manila
audience, a strangeness, thus alien to Tagalog ears.
ESTEBAN VILLARUZ
Esteban Villaruz created the Basi Revolt Series in 1821 during
the Spanish colonial period (Flores, 1998). It is one of the
earliest Southeast Asian paintings that structure history in
fourteen panels. Basi, apart from being known as a native
wine from sugarcane, was more than just a drink regulated by
the Spanish colonial government. It was part of a ritual, social
gatherings, and everyday life. A resistance was stirred in
Ilocos Norte in 1807 that culminated in the execution of the
rebels.
ROBERTO FELEO
Roberto Feleo created a massive tableau of
contemporary sculptures that interpreted the Basi
Revolt called "Tao-taong Aklasang Basi-Ang Hanay ng
Ñ." It was created out of sawdust and eggshell mix over
paper on aluminum expander, painted with acrylic,
and glazed with lacquer. The forms are surreal and
auspicious, retaining the mood and feel of the Villaruz
painting.
ROBERTO FELEO
The life-size sculptures that are part of Feleo’s “Tao-
Taong Aklasang Basi-Ang Hanay ng Ñ” are lined up
like cosmic soldiers near the gate, within the ranks are
sculptures of crocs and plants with fangs. It took Bob
seven months to finish each figure.
EXAMPLE OF PLACE-BASED ARTISTIC
INTERVENTIONS
Baguio City's artistic
culture ranges from crafts
and folk art expressions to
woodcarving, silver craft,
weaving and tattooing.
SANTIAGO BOSE
Santiago Bose (July 25, 1949 –
December 3, 2002, Baguio City,
Philippines) was a mixed-media artist
from the Philippines. Bose co-founded
the Baguio Arts Guild, and was also an
educator, community organiser and art
theorist.
SANTIAGO BOSE
Bose often used indigenous media in his work,
ranging from bamboo and volcanic ash, to the
cast-offs and debris (found objects, bottles,
"trash"). His assemblages communicated a
strong sense of folk consciousness and religiosity,
and the strength of traditional cultures in a
culture drowned with foreign cultural influences.
KAWAYAN DE GUIA
Kawayan de Guia is a Baguio City-based artist
and curator whose practice spans painting,
installation and sculpture. His artworks use
indigenous and colonial artifacts, playfully
transforming them into extravagant and often
ironic critiques of consumerism, global trade
and the impact of the American occupation of
the Philippines.
KAWAYAN DE GUIA

De Guia draws upon a wide array of

Pinoy material culture including
Jeepneys, Dangwa buses, jukeboxes,
torpedoes and Ifugao rice gods.
The Weight of His Story, 2022 The great gasp “HUKLIT” a The Manila Paper, 2021
time for abstinence and
offering, 2023
 Ramon Orlina
Ramon Orlina is a licensed Architect, having
graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture
from the University of Santo Tomas College of
Architecture & Fine Arts in 1965. He worked for C.D.
Arguelles and Associates for four years and after that
he formed Ramon Orlina and Associates doing
architectural works and administration of projects. He
is also a Member of the College of Fellows of the
Philippine Institute of Architects.
 Ramon Orlina
Orlina’s name is synonymous with glass sculpture in
the Philippines and to his credit, he successfully
opened in December 2013 a private art museum that
includes a sculpture garden/amphitheater called
Museo Orlina in Tagaytay City, Cavite. Now five years
on, the museum has expanded to double its size with
larger gallery spaces and a space for a museum cafe.
MUSEO ORLINA: GLASS ARTISTRY
BENEDICTO CABRERA
Benedicto Cabrera, better known as
BenCab, is a figurative painter from the
Philippines. He is recognized as a pioneer of
Philippine art. BenCab's paintings often
depict figures wrapped in flowing fabrics in
muted tones and earthy color palettes.
Crisis in Humanity SABEL Portrait of Caroline
 ! It'll
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Q1 It was created primarily as a result of pre-
colonial cultures, colonial influences and
foreign traders intermixing and gradually
evolving together.

a) Spanish Identity b) Indio Identity

c) Malays Identity d) Filipino Identity

Q2 The majority of the people in the Philippines
are of __________________ descent who
migrated from Taiwan during the Iron Age.
They are called ethnic Filipinos.

a) Hispanic b) Austronesian

c) Malays d) Filipino
Q3 This means freeman or freedman were the
feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog
society in Luzon, the Philippines.

a) Hispanic b) Austronesian

c) Maharlika d) Malaya
Q4 The Philippines is and the Filipinos are
called ___________ but not as
conventionally as Latin America and
Latinos.

a) Hispanic b) Austronesian

c) Maharlika d) Malays
Q5 Filipinos is considered as ______________
being the natives of the Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

a) Hispanic b) Austronesian

c) Maharlika d) Malays
 It is an integrative approach to urban planning
Q6 and community building that stimulates local
economies and leads to increased innovation,
cultural diversity, and civic engagement.

a) Place-based Artistic b) Place-based Artistic

Interventions Inventions

b) Arts-based Placemaking d) Art engagement

Interventions
 Filipino Jesuit Priest theorizes on interiority or loob as a way to engage
with issues on Filipino identity. His research Tao po! Tuloy! Isang
7 Landas ng Pag-unawa sa Loob ng Tao is an attempt to seek answers to
questions on personhood.

A B. C.
.
 This Historian Priest said that “Filipino identity is not
8 necessarily lost or non-existent. There is no need to suffer an
identity crisis.”

A B. C.
.
 For Him the idea of an internationally educated, Hispanic Rizal
that desired assimilation was only something manufactured
9 under the American colonial project.

A B. C.
.
 For him the Filipino "identity is inseparable from the arts"
10

A B. C.
.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

11. It refers to the hand-crafted earthenware pots made

from Vigan by Fidel Go.

12. His assemblages communicated a strong sense of

folk consciousness and religiosity, and the strength of
traditional cultures in a culture drowned with foreign
cultural influences.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

13. He is an Ilocano artist who painted the Amburayan

Queen in multiple renditions.

14. This artist created a massive tableau of

contemporary sculptures that interpreted the Basi
Revolt called "Tao-taong Aklasang Basi-Ang Hanay ng
Ñ."
II. Direction: Identify the following.

15. A licensed Architect known for his glass sculpture.

16. Crisis Humanity, Sabel and Portrait of Caroline is

one of his famous artworks.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

17. A mixed-media artist from the Philippines who co-

founded the Baguio Arts Guild.

18. An artist who draws upon a wide array of Pinoy

material culture including Jeepneys, Dangwa buses,
jukeboxes, torpedoes and Ifugao rice goods.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

19. Burnayan clays are called _____________ and

they are dug from the western barangays of the city.

20. An artist who created the Basi Revolt Series in

1821 during the Spanish colonial period.
II. Direction: Identify the following.
21. He defined identity as a persistent sameness with
oneself and a persistent sharing of some kind of
essential character with others.

22. The word "Filipino" is spelled with an "F" because

it is derived from the Spanish name for the Philippine
Islands called _____________.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

23. Apart from being known as a native wine from

sugarcane, was more than just a drink regulated by the
Spanish colonial government. It was part of a ritual, social
gatherings, and everyday life.

24. The term ____________ is originally meant a Spaniard

born of Spanish parents in the Philippines.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

25-30. Give six (6) of the largest

Filipino ethnic groups in the
Philippines.
II. Direction: Identify the following.

31-35. Give your understanding about this

quotation.