Photos & Words By: Brian Jules Campued
Love is indeed in the air as the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) community celebrates not only the Valentine’s but also the National Arts Month.
There’s no denying that PUPians are very talented individuals—jacks of all trades, masters of different things. That’s why in celebration of the arts month, here is one of the three art exhibits in the main campus—”In Loving Memory of Old Self: Amore Veritas.”
The visualization of the human heart, the heart shape, and dolls dominated the exhibit. At the center lies “In Media Res” made by a group of students from the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics strand (STEM 12-27) of the PUP Senior High School (SHS) which is made of concentric, multilayered boards representing distinct Philippine symbols. From the outermost level, it shows the country’s landscape; festivals; means of transportation; endemic fauna; and the Baybayin, Filipino native writing system.
At the back is an installation named “Rock-a-bye, Child” which utilized old dolls and toys to symbolize the effect of poverty among the Filipino children in the slums. In this artwork, a crib was made to look like a cage through its bars and a bloodied doll and stuffed toy were placed inside.
Another artwork is the “Panag-ayat ni Nanang,” created by STEM 12-02, which is the Ilocano translation of a mother’s love—it tells the story of a single mother suffering poverty while raising her children. The installation made use of a mask to represent the mother and above its head is an infant doll wrapped in red cloth which looks like a human heart.
To appreciate the students’ works and to admire them more closely, the exhibit is located on the south wing, 6th floor of the PUP main campus.
Young ECHO 
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