Name:
Garcia, Jeserene T.
Course & Section:
BS CRIM 11
Art Appreciation
Sculpture
Date Submitted:
March 02, 2021
Professor:
Mr. Jonathan Bitoy
My favorite scupture in the National Museum
Go to the National Museum and take a selfie with your favorite sculpture, and a solo picture of
the sculpture and explain why you like that particular sculpture. How does it talk to you? What
message does it give you? Again answer in Filipino or English.
References of Images used:
https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/ina-ng-lahi
https://medium.com/@Raydius06/national-museum-reflection-paper-9f8600764873
“Ina ng Lahi” (Mother of Filipinos)
Jose P. Alcantara
The National Museum of the Philippines offers a lot of artworks and masterpieces from
Filipino artists. Before the pandemic, I have visited the Philippine National Museum of Fine Arts
and I can say that Filipinos are indeed creative and has an imaginative mind when it comes to art.
There is one sculpture that really caught my attention, it is the prize-winning artwork of Jose P.
Alcantara, the “Ina ng Lahi” (Mother of Filipinos). It is a sculpture of a lady in a Filipino
traditional clothes “Saya” that looks like praying. The thing that I like about it is the al over
figure of it and the message it is trying to portray for all its viewers. In my own perspective, the
messaged that the sculpture wants to convey is the past experiences of women through the years
from the days of foreign colonizations. As according to what is the position of the sculpture
which is standing and looks like begging for help from above, this can be a sign of finding hope
after going through a rough battle with the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese. Based on the
expression of the artwork, it is a portrayal of all the women in the society that has been
oppressed and abused that cause them to loose hope but still choose to cling onto their hope as
their last resort. If we will look into history, women from the lower class were the one who had
to overcome hardships starting from receiving unequal opportunity up to the physical and sexual
abused, all of it will make any person either men or women to question their faith in the supreme
being. This is the reason why I chose this sculpture as my favorite one as it was a symbol of faith
in God.