How can art serve as a platform for social change?
I think na yung art, art can be a platform for social change. Especially today, it can be a platform for social change by directly depicting our realities and really talking about and representing the problems that we encounter in our daily lives but also more importantly as a nation.
Can you provide examples of art pieces that have been used for social change?
I don’t think that this has to be a big name or parang established na art piece something like Spoliarium, because I think na we tend to forget that artists are workers, workers are artists and that Art is a practice. So in that way, Art pieces that workers make contributes to social change already.
There are art collectives, such as Gantala Press, Mako Micro press, Magpies, Bangko who tried to make social change, not only through making art, but through collaborating directly with communities. So in that way, these collectives and people don’t just make social change through their arts but through their practices as well.
How can we help Filipino cultural practices and tradition through art?
I’m going to flip that question, and say that actually I think Filipino cultural practices and traditions can help our art kasi I think you know with neoliberalism, we do tend to forget our roots. So those practices, those cultural traditions can help us connect back to who Filipinos really are.
Parang ano, it won’t just help us either, we will also be helping it, not necessarily actively pero parang magiging symbiotic relationship s’ya, to really elevate who we are. So, I think we just really have to find that balance of our Filipino identity and how external factors have affected us already.
How has the role of social change in art evolved over time?
I think, not much has change kasi as Filipinos, as a nation, meron talaga tayong ano eh resistance, so I think it’s a good thing that it has stayed the same kasi that’s our hope na we won’t let anything bad take over us and our spirit.
