Art is deeply embedded in the culture of the Buscalan village in the Tinglayan municipality in Kalinga, an agricultural province located in the mountain ranges of northern Philippines. After all, it is the place that produced Apo Whang-Od, the world-renowned centenarian and the last mambabatok or tattooist to use the unique Kalinga backhand tap technique, an experience that is still very much sought after by many visitors from all over the world. But given the typical effects of intercultural exchange brought by tourism and globalization, there’s a constant threat of local cultural values getting diluted and eventually disappearing in the name of progress and modernization.

If Archie Oclos had his way, though, community art can be the guide in finding balance between the traditional and the contemporary. The Cultural Center of the Philippines 13 Artists awardee’s recent initiative to spearhead a socially engaged art project involving a team of street artists, cultural workers, and art practitioners is an effort to achieve that goal. The project aims to reach different communities in various parts of the country in a cross-cultural immersion, and its first stop was Buscalan.

“Sa Buscalan muna dahil buhay na buhay ang komunal na kaisipan ng mga lokal doon ([We started] in Buscalan first because the communal consciousness is very much alive among the locals),” Oclos explains. “Modernisado man silang tingnan, naka-ugat pa rin sila sa mga tradisyunal na paniniwala at pamamaraan sa buhay. Magandang kundisyon din iyon upang mamulat at matuto ang mga artists sa mga tao ng Buscalan dahil sila ang tagapagturo at may akda ng kanilang kultura. (They may seem modernized but they’re still rooted to their traditional beliefs and ways of living. It’s a good setting for the artists to learn from the people since they’re the ones who created the Buscalan culture and are passing it down to younger generations.)”

For the four-day immersion, Oclos put together a team that included visual artists Kris Abrigo, Bvdot, Jenn Ban, Doktor Karayom, Ralph Eya, Ilona Fiddy, Dee Jae Pa’este, Kookoo Ramos, and Sim Tolentino, and the group created 11 artworks that represent their respective experiences and creative styles.

Bvdot’s “Tagpuan” is a vibrant mural depicting a rooster against a backdrop of the Buscalan landscape. It applies elements and techniques that call to mind the smooth finish of digital graphic design, and the contrast between this contemporary finish and the indigenous theme of his work is a reflection of how Bvdot’s artistic perspective was inspired by his immersion experiences and the story of Kalinga’s Nanay Ampit and the Butbut tribe. He reflects, “Working and immersing with the local community made me realize that wherever we go, we must respect each other’s traditions and ways of life.”

“It is important for us to know our place in a ‘foreign’ place,” Doktor Karayom agrees. His work depicts icons and symbols of the Kalinga culture, painted in white against a bright red background. “Just because people live up here in the mountains doesn’t mean they know less than us city dwellers. I feel that the people here actually know what living means more than us.”

Muralist Kookoo Ramos’ exposure to community work was similarly crucial to her art process, as the quotidian elements of the local lifestyle—dried plants, wooden items, hunting and farming tools—served as visual inspirations. It was the role and significance of local women to the community, however, that provided her with a different perspective: “From what I saw in Buscalan, the role of women was simple but truly relevant. Tunay silang ilaw ng tahanan (They are the real sources of light in their homes); no need for me to exaggerate, twist, or create a more aesthetically appealing statement piece. I found value in that simplicity: the value of taking care of the people, the community, and the next generations to come.”

For the artwork he created for Buscalan’s barangay hall, Kris Abrigo’s intention was to contribute to the community design by highlighting the relationship between local institutions, their purposes, and their constituents. He achieved this by integrating design with utility in a seamless manner. “It’s about transforming basic local concrete architecture into something that represents the people and reflects the place around it, focusing only on the essential, recognizable, and significant objects that the viewers can relate to.”

“There will always be a burning passion within artists to create a greater impact on society,” art practitioner and advocate Ralph Eya reflects. His work, titled “We are Warriors,” is a mostly grayscale and realistic depiction of members of the Butbut tribe, their collective identity broadcast through the artist’s choice to keep each figure’s face hidden or covered. Eya sees Oclos’ art project as a living testament to what artistic production, collective action, and social participation can achieve. “It is just a matter of someone igniting that spark and taking on the challenge of leading our fellow creative practitioners to progressive and meaningful collaborations—and that’s the spirit of community art.”

Oclos sees his and his fellow artists’ role as the bridge where heritage and modernity could meet with equanimity. His mural “Karapatan sa Pagpapasya,” in particular, is based on how locals would bring commercial products from the lowland up to the mountains. “The people here know that they need those products to sustain their living, but in the process, they recognize that they too become dependent on the existing system of commerce,” he says. “We need to acknowledge the sentiments of the members of the community. We are just messengers of their causes.”

The murals are located in different pockets of Buscalan, surprising locals and tourists with a vibrant pop of color at almost every turn. More than their aesthetic contribution, though, are the artworks’ unabashed celebration of local culture and identity and how rich, layered, and vibrant both have become through generations of cultural preservation and exchange. With the Kalinga village as the art project’s first stop, the artists hope to create a ripple effect among like-minded creatives, community leaders, cultural workers, stakeholders, and the youth from all over the country. Their wish is that their artworks would encourage the start of similar initiatives that would deepen the conversations on the intersection of art, culture, and social progress. As Eya puts it, “It is not just about murals or artworks placed in a community setting nor just another buzzword we lightly use in art practice. It is about co-creating. It is about evolving together. Community art is activism.”

This story was published in March 2019 on the Garage Magazine website. All images courtesy of Jenn Ban