“Babolgam”
Watercolor and colored pencils on 15″x20″ watercolor paper
2021
Our ability as students to demonstrate power over our oppressors through solidarity is one of the strongest foundations that we possess. The culmination of unrest among the youth drives us to stand ground and radically respond to injustice, maltreatment and incompetence through the student activism. It is clear that we have a role in revolutionary change, and that our voices hold much weight to invoke reform despite continued opposition and threats.
As we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Diliman Commune, we must not forget the inhumane acts of the Marcos regime done to the UP students and fellow Filipinos who did not tolerate his dictatorship and fought to uphold the Constitution and the rights protected by it. After 50 years, the statement highlighted through the Diliman Commune still bears much weight in our current events. We must reflect on it as the injustice continues to bear semblance under the Duterte administration. We must resist the tyranny and oust the corrupt leaders of our country by enacting and upholding its legacy of militantly defending academic freedom and serving the Filipino people (Mongaya, et al).
My name is Gabriel Luciano A. Raval and I’m a 1st year student of Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Visual Communication at the University of the Philippines. I spent 2 years studying Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines before transferring to my current program. I use graphite pencils, charcoal, watercolor, colored pencils, and acrylics as mediums for my artworks.