By Jibril Abanag, Job Balanon, and Nathan Palabrica, UP Integrated School interns of the UP Diliman Information Office
The UP Diliman (UPD) College of Fine Arts (CFA) held Halong: Cherishing Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Design (Halong), an exhibition and workshop under the UPD Culture Bearers-in-Residence Program.
Held from Nov. 13 to 22 at CFA’s Parola Gallery, the event featured three major sections showcasing the traditional Iloilo patadyong and traditional weavers Constancia F. Atijon and Criselda Fagarita, as well as panubok artists Rowena Caballero Rafil and Rita Caballero.
The first section highlighted the pedal-frame loom, the heart of the exhibit. Atijon demonstrated how it was used.
Next showcased CFA former dean Mitzi Marie Aguilar-Reyes’ diverse design collections of Iloilo’s traditional patadyong. Aguilar-Reyes gathered the patadyong during her fieldwork activities in the 1990s. Exhibited were the patadyong of Miag-ao, a tubular plaid weave skirt of cotton or fabric, and the panubok, an embroidery design formed by the Calinog indigenous people (IP) of Panay-Bukidnon, typically embroidered onto the patadyong.
“The group are weavers from Miag-ao and the Calinog IP. These are all traditional heritage that is good to share with the young people, and at the same time ‘yong traditional designs can be imparted and learned by young weavers because they don’t know how to weave these anymore,” Aguilar-Reyes said during the exhibit opening.
When asked if the patadyong and panubok can be envisioned as part of contemporary Filipino fashion, she said “Yes. It can be.”
Aguilar-Reyes added, “there should be an awareness among the designers on the kind of cloth that they’re using. That is what my purpose is now—to be able to promote it so that fashion designers are aware of the different patterns. These are not just simple plaids. Parang simple plaids and stripes siya, pero may mga pangalan o tawag iyan.”
The last section displayed the “contemporary possibilities of traditional textiles” through the innovative and modern Filipiniana works of artists PJ Aranador, Kitty Caragay, Twinkle Ferraren, Joy Ilagan, Skeeter Labastilla-Turgut, Jojie Lloren, Basil Malicsi, Lito Perez, Pidge Reyes, Riza Romero, Ditta Sandico, and Adora de Vera. In addition, the junior industrial design students of Ninel Constantino made creative functional objects using patadyong and panubok. Constantino is an associate professor at the CFA.
Halong is part of the first-year implementation of UPD’s Culture Bearer-in-Residence Program.
