BALIK-HANDURAW ALAMPAT SA SUTLA JOSUA DEL SOCORRO New Art-Transformation Sustainability and Preservation of Local and Ethnic Arts and Craft Advocacy for Philippine Precolonial and Ethnic History and Culture BALIK-HANDURAW RE-IMAGINE Have you ever wonder what our ancestor's art and craft would looked like if our colonizer never succeeded colonizing the Philippine archipelago? and that the Hindu-syncretic kingdoms perpetuated their culture? Interestingly, recent years passed and until now - I have noticed there is an uprising popularity of pre-colonial history an cultures e.g. Amaya, Urduja the animated movie, Indio, and more... saying that the 21st century will be the century of enlightenment and transformation for the Philippines' identity. This Art-signature is pivotal for the sustainability and preservation of local and ethnic arts and craft industries might as well revive ancient-traditional occupation, because this project is undertaking its desire to be a fresh and immersive educational/knowledge source for the Filipino people in a Asian-native perspective to which we Filipino's should observe. And ambitiously hoping ethnics may find this artsignature important to manifest their religion's divinities to be made to an image as well as their own ways to convey knowledge through visual imageries. "ALAMPAT SA SUTLA" lit. means "Art on Silk" in Binisaya, an art-signature that was born from my curiosity and imagination of the perpetuation of Hindu-syncretic kingdoms in precolonial Philippines which eventually became my passion for art transformation and advocacy. An art-signature that infuses cultural identities as signifiers of it's ethnic origin hence the word 'signature' and the imagination of painting skills that would have cultivated in the archipelago with the strong relationship with the Chinese Dynasties. An immersive educational-learning artwork and to house precolonial and ethnic Historical-Cultural and Art Education. My journey with this project "Balik-Handuraw" began the in May 29th of 2021, before this I made a leave of Absence from my studies for I was having identity crisis as well as my artistic crisis - until fortunately stumble and join to an online lecture about Pre-colonial Visayan Mythologies which ultimately ignites my passion to make arts and images for these tremendous amount of underrated literature that deserves a spotlight. My search for my identity crisis was filled with the heritage of my ancestors while my artistic crisis was to personally become my ancestors' artist of today's era. Ever since then I began my research looking for ways to create an artwork that would solely cultivate in a pre-colonial discipline, then I remember my love for Chinese Paintings and so I introduced silk-painting in this project seeing that it not so far fetch that our close ties and trades with Chinese Dynasties could've eventually share the art of painting/silk-painting as well as scroll making. The "Mga Diwata sa Sugbuanon" was my first ever made alampat sa sutla project and currently still is. My lack of financial funds to create more artsignatures like this eventually made me stop and observed whether I should sell this art-work and probably the money I will get well help me create more however it is a barren situation. Until Ma'am Bea Sagun totally convinced me not to sell this artwork and serve this as my trophy - my pilot project to become the ideal visual for my future work. As further explained by Ma'am Bea Sagun, she expresses her awe-inspiring perspective about my artwork as educational/knowledge a valuable learning source which aligns to my vision as a source for historical-cultural and art education. Vision Objectives Paint here-in subjects or objects Will recognize as a Philippine relevant to Philippine history Art (art-signature). and culture specially pre- Help Philippine economy – colonial and ethnic culture and local and ethnic industries to heritage - painted on abaca silk sustain and preserve their art or pinya silk for pricy and culture. alternative. An overture for enlightenment Make an immersive learning and transformation of artwork that aims to hit two Philippine Art-history. birds on stone hence the Source for immersive historical-cultural and art educational/knowledge education. learning. Infuse cultural identifiers as Source of local/communal elements for the craft to signify revival of traditional it’s ethnic origin. occupations such as Use Asian made materials for goldsmithing/jewelry-making, sustainability and consistency of weaving, traditional garment- Asian-native perspective. tailoring and more… Use watercolor since the Source of inspiration and Chinese were most fond to use empowerment to embrace our it. ethnic identity (patriotism and Use local textile such as hablon, nationalism) inaul, and more... Boost the phase of decolonizing Colonial Mentality amongst Filipinos. STRENGTHS Has strong cultural relevance. Immersive and innovative design of the scroll. Promote and re-ignites the high artistry and creativeness through curiosity and imagination. Cultivate the viewers’ knowledge about pre-colonial and current ethnic cultures. WEAKNESSES Extreme exposure to heat will make the silk brittle and would easily be torn apart unless reinforce with another layer of fabric behind the abaca silk (for future art-style variation). Laborious process. Expensive/costly materials at first bought. OPPORTUNITIES To further house pre-colonial mythologies, writing scripts, architectural, and more Further develop the hiraya/flames of imagination. New skills to develop such as repousse and chasing, woodcarving and more. Provides a fresh identity and unique introduction for ethnic groups. Great platform for pre-colonial education. Mass creation for other artist who wants to try this art-signature. THREATS Like any ordinary paintings its destroyable by fire or any human or natural destruction. Cultural Identifiers Wood-carving Art Ancient Goldsmithing traditions Abaka Sutla Textiles; hablon/ hinablon/ inaul/ songket/ any textile that was already present and traded in pre-colonial times josua del socorro a.k.a. "WAWA" = 'delta' in Binisaya Kananga, Leyte, Philippines +639063947871 josuadelsocorro@gmail.com @handurawanniwawa @Yehoshua5683 Kananga Central School Kananga National High School Ormoc City Senior High School Capitol University CDO MisOr. Visayas State University Main I am a local visual artist from Kananga, Leyte and a member of Ormoc City Visual Artists Assosiation - OCVAA. I am currently a student in Visayas State University Main Campus Baybay City, Leyte - taking up Bachelor for Culture and Arts Education. I am an artist whose fascinated with mythical and ancient antiquities. Upon realization, I embarked myself to rediscover my ancestors legacies/heritage volunteered to be my ancestor's artist/artisan of today's era. An aspiring artist for enlightenment and transformation for Philippine pre-colonial and ethnic history and culture as well as the Art-history of the Philippines. Mediums: pencil & ink watercolor wood and thin metal sheets trinkets for assemblages Characteristic: imaginative innovative advocacy driven creative
