“Gapos”
Digital medium
2021
The years 2020 and 2021 are marked by social unrest in the Philippines. Amid the spread of the dreaded virus across the country. We also encounter a slew of human rights violations that elicit public outrage. My piece, Gapos, depicts the current challenges we face and its parallelism to the dark times of the Marcos regime. The year is 2021, and history is repeating itself —– once again the country is mismanaged by an oppressive ruler and we are stock in a red – tagging fiasco.
A few months ago, a new scheme that the administration is terminating the long-standing UP DND Accord, and it rattled the entire university. Ofcourse, we resisted. We stood in solidarity just as how the UP Diliman student body of the 1970’s put up barricades to evoke the historic Diliman Commune inside the Campus. My artwork intends to convey the message that we may be all terrified and silenced, but history gives us a reminder of why we should continue to stand up for the oppressed. History may repeat itself but we are persistent.
Kyla Lynnea is a first-year student at the University of the Philippines CFA Visual Communication Department. Her father, who is also an artist, sparked her interest in the arts at a young age. She then began her art education at the University of Sto. Tomas where she took up Music, Arts and Design in Senior High School. The artist sees her work as a response to various social constructs that hide behind the blinds of what they claim to be ‘reality among us. She believes that this social construct frequently manipulates truths, skewing them in favor of the oppressors. From time to time, she also makes visual narratives and illustrates them in comics. The medium she uses in her artworks alternate to digital and acrylic media. Each of her artworks is unique, often with stylized subjects that are deconstructed in a way that speaks to her thoughts and stance on different issues.