Art and the Christian faith has had a long and fruitful dialogue over the centuries.
In the Philippines two years ago, the dialogue almost broke down with the controversial Kulo exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, where one controversial work by artist Mideo Cruz caused a storm that led the local contemporary art scene, in particular, to hostility toward religion.
The CCP itself, however, has not given up on keeping the channels of dialogue open. Last night, Fr. Jason Dy, SJ, rector of Sacred Heart Parish in Cebu City, opened his latest show Testimony of What Remains at the top floor of the CCP.
The exhibit will remain open until the 18th of August—once again in time for Cinemalaya. (The Kulo controversy reportedly erupted when a Cinemalaya film viewer wandered into the show.)
Dy’s exhibit is rooted in a concern with bringing art to his pastoral practice.
“This exhibit is my essay on the idea of life and death, and what remains after we go away,” he told Coconuts Manila, “and how people remember those who have gone before them.”
It started life as his unique take on a November tradition in the Catholic church—instead of the usual All Souls’ envelopes where people wrote names of the dearly departed, people in his parish were invited to leave mementos of their loved ones as part of an art project entitled In Loving Memory.
During his time overseeing the renovation of his parish, he saved old material and re-used them in his art work. The parish itself hosts the Cebu Alternative Contemporary Art Studio, where earlier iterations of this project were exhibited.
The present exhibit extends the project to the idea of remnants of memories in general—of prayers said at shrines, or crutches left by those who were healed from disability.
The project itself has travelled to Spain as part of a contemporary art exhibit for the World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 and is currently touring Europe. One interactive installation in that project, “Bottled Memories,” where people put slips of paper with the names of their beloved departed, has proven so popular that Fr. Dy receives names of people all the way from the Continent.
He put up this installation at the CCP as part of the show, and he told Coconuts Manila that these names will be remembered at Mass.
The Jesuit priest is one of a small group of contemporary artists who have consistently engaged with themes of Christian faith in their art. Two Thirteen Artists Awardees mentioned at the opening of the show on 3 July, Emmanuel Garibay and Michael Munoz, coming respectively from the mainline Protestant and Catholic traditions, are among this small group.
It is hard to keep faith as cultural practice out of the purview of the CCP, as one former CCP official told Coconuts Manila.
Perhaps the neutral ground the Center offers, notwithstanding past rows, could be a model for keeping the channels of dialogue open between different expressions of faith and contemporary art.
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The exhibit runs from the 4th of July to the 18th of August, 2013, at the Bulwagang Fernando Amorsolo (Small Gallery) and Right Atrium, 4/F CCP Main Theater Building. The artist will give talks on 9 July from 4-6 PM at the nearby MKP Hall and on 10 July at the same time at the Ateneo Art Gallery on the Ateneo de Manila campus.
