So, for my project, I chose to focus on Spanish missionary work in the Philippines. I haven't exactly narrowed down the time period yet, since Spain's colonization of the Philippines was such a long period of time, but I want to write my essay from the perspective of a Spanish priest trying to convert the native people of a small village.
For my project, I want to show how the Spaniards converted the Filipino people to Christianity by incorporating the Filipino folklore of anting-anting. According to most sources, anting-anting is a source of magic that is anchored in an item. The most popular form of anting-anting is in a necklace. According to the legend, Manuelito was a warrior who was nearly immortal to weapons because he wore such a necklace. However, Manuelito finally met his death when a bullet, made out of the silver of the Virgin Mary, was able to penetrate the magic of anting-anting. Manuelito's necklace was penetrated in the center by that bullet.
So for my art piece, everything is going to be in real life scale. On a stone floor are five rows of basic wooden church pews, that could be found in any modest Catholic church. In the rows are various white wax figures of people: mostly Filipino, a few mestizos, and a few Spaniard officials. I'll better know the crowd and their attire once I pin point a time period. In the vary back row in the center is a wax figure in true-to-life color of a native, tribal Filipino. Around his neck is a replica of an anting-anting necklace. On the left side of the pews is a wax figure of a Spanish priest, who is also in color, holding a real aspersorium and using an aspergillum to sprinkle holy water on the people. The holy water coming from the aspergillum will be made of silver, suspended on fish wire from the ceiling in an arch, mainly directed at the native figure. The end of the holy water's trajectory is a silver bullet, that has made a whole in the center of the native's necklace, just as the silver bullet of the Virgin Mary penetrated Manuelito's necklace.
I hope I described my vision in enough detail that it makes sense, and in a way that gets my message across. Thanks for your feedback!
Sounds very interesting, Jennifer. I think the subject is really fascinating: the meeting of and relationship between indigenous belief systems and imposed, western religion. Your visual sound very interesting as well--do you have any reference images you can share? Also, consider what you want the piece to do. In other words, what is the viewer's experience of it? As of now, it sounds like an illustration of the idea. So do I as a viewer simply take it in as information? Or are you somehow challenging the viewer's perspective on the subject matter? For example, one trope we often encounter in western storytelling is indigenous people's "response" to the West, as if native subjectivity were only activated once western imposition occurs. What is the power of the native belief system in relation to the Christian one? Given that the Philippines is currently over 90% Catholic, what does that say about the relationship between belief systems? All very complex and intriguing questions. Very ambitious undertaking--kudos for taking it on.
ReplyDeleteYour idea sounds really interesting, and I think you described it well enough to illustrate a pretty solid image of what you have in mind! I especially like how you made the decision to include multiple rows of pews with blank figures rather than simply the row with the priest and the native -- I feel like it actually draws more attention to the 'action' and gives it a sense of perspective. How are the figures going to be positioned in terms of where they're looking? Like, will their eyes be closed and their heads down, or will they be looking straight ahead, or will they be watching the priest? Even though the figures are sort of like background objects, I think the overall meaning and atmosphere of the visual will shift depending on where their attention is directed -- for example, if they're looking at the scene between the priest and the native, it comes across (in my opinion) as if they're accepting and maybe even endorsing the rise of Western religion over indigenous beliefs. If they're looking away, on the other hand, the connotation is more like they're ignoring it or just 'going with the flow,' in a sense. But yeah, I think it sort of relates to what Professor Marquez said about what kind of message you want the viewer to take away from the piece, which is probably one of the more difficult parts of this project. Your visual itself sounds cool though, definitely something I'd stop to look at if I walked past it in a gallery.
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