“Barikada”
Ink on Paper
(no dimensions submitted)
March 31, 2021
As we celebrate UP Diliman Arts and Culture Festival 2021, I was deeply fascinated by one of the stories of the Diliman Commune, wherein a pro-Marcos professor in UP took part in this heart igniting fight using a shotgun which he always brings to the University. This story made me realize how each “Iskolar ng Bayan” expressed their deep-seated love and faith towards our university. This leads to the background inspiration of my artwork called “Barikada”, wherein the professor represents the authorities who were trying to break into the university. He is approaching the Barikada made by the UP students to prevent the authorities from getting in. The artwork that I made was based on the present Barikada that the UP students made last January 2021. This connects the past and the present state of UP which had the same issue back then. The Barikada, serves as reminiscent of chair barricades that the protesting students built 50 years ago to prevent police from assessing the campus. These barricades symbolize that the people, especially the UP community, want to show their stand for the principle of human rights and laws.
To end this, I would like to state one of the notable philosophers, Aristotle, said, “The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Thus, the main idea of my peace is to show not just the beauty of the artwork itself, but to show the beauty of how our society has been united in an uprising, to conquer the state terror, and to save humanity once more.
I am Terry Lexii B. Alvarez, Associate of Art in Industrial Design. Through my years of in depth art discovery and portrayal, a certain arts style captured my heart, which is silhouette art. This is the principle behind who I am, a very simple and plain person, yet has a wide cosmos of knowledge and thought, making me perceive the significance of all the things around us and put these ideas in an artistic and realistic perspective. Art helps me express my thoughts and feelings. Also, it became an inspiration to me, since it encourages me to explore more, jolting my insight into something that I might not have seen before, in order to compare my experiences with something else. Moreover, I believe that art works serves as a medium for expanding our viewpoint or perspective by transporting us to another time or place and igniting our imaginations. Art has a great effect on us in such a way that it is always small, like a seed, but once it has been exposed to the environment, it spreads and develops into something special to each person’s mind due to people’s different views.