Baguio-based artist, Vincent Navarro is known for his unique style of portraits of farmers made with used coffee grounds as the pigment. He also contributes to the projects of the NGO Cordillera Green Network (CGN) with his artistic skills and ideas. In 2013, he assisted Japanese artist, Furusaka Haruka for her woodblock printmaking workshop at Baguio City National High School, where students made message cards addressed to students in the disaster stricken areas after the super typhoon Yolanda. In this interview, he tells us about his initiative to deliver the message cards to the students in different cities in Leyte. This interview was taken at Vargas Museum after we participated in the curatorial workshop organised by Japan Foundation. (March 7, 2014 in Quezon City, Philippines, interviewer: Mayumi Hirano)
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You have been working with Furusaka Haruka for projects in Baguio organised by CGN. I can tell there is a sense of trust built between two of you.
Yes. For the message card project, Haruka requested us to do a kind of workshops in Leyte to create two way movements to collect reactions from the students in Leyte to what students in Baguio made. Haruka couldn't come with us because of her schedule. Before we traveled down, we had brainstorming together what to do and what to make.
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| Presentation by Furusaka Haruka at 98B COLLABoratory, February 6, 2014 |
How did you gather workshop participants in Leyte?
I was actually born in Leyte, specifically in Alangalang, so I have cousins there. They were spared from the super typhoon Yolanda. Through FB and text messages, I was able to ask them a favour to look for the schools in a severely affected areas which might be interested in the workshop. We were able to visit pre-schools, primary schools in Palo, San Juanico, San Jose near Tacloban where many people died. We also went to Alangalang with Japanese dancer, Jun Amanto, where he had performance.
Jun Amanto performs usually spiritual very serious talking to forefathers. This one was very different, very comedic approach. They were amazed when the principal introduced Jun as an actor, they thought he is a celebrity coming to Leyte. He was wearing a traditional cloth- kabuki, but his style is kabuko mai, his own version of the kabuki.
What was the process of the workshop?
Because we only had limited number of message cards made by the students in Baguio from Haruka’s workshop, so the schools choose 17 students. We also asked our friend in Baguio, who wrote a thesis on children’s art in the mountain to join us, because she knew how to approach kids. During the workshop we didn’t instruct them what to use or how to make designs. We only asked them to make images of Leyte before the super typhoon, and provided papers and glues. We wanted the images and messages to come from themselves. Good thing was that they chose natural materials to make the designs. All of them turned out to be very unique.
Only after the drawings were made, we gave the message cards from Baguio, which we didn’t exhibit but just distributed. With the letters made by students in Leyte, we haven’t taken action yet, but we intend to show them to the public because they requested us to exhibit so people can see. So far, I have only taken the photos of the cards by using my cellphone camera. Actually, all the photos were taken by my cell phone camera, simply because I didn’t have a proper camera but also my cousin advised not to carry a big camera for safety reasons. After the typhoon, crime rate went up.
How was the responses from the students in Leyte?
They were asking if the students in Baguio have boyfriends or girlfriends. You know it made them imagine just like having a pen pal. So we are planning to make a Facebook page to build up the relationship between the students in two places. Who knows after 5 years, they might be going to Baguio or Tacloban to meet each other. But, the messages and images are not only addressed to the specific students but people in general, people in the world. The cards presented gratitudes.
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| Message Cards from Leyte, Tanabata 5 held at Baguio Museum By Japan Foundation Manila and Cordillera Green Network |
What was your experience visiting the place and working with the students?
Many responded positively, although we can see the deep scars of the typhoon in the landscape. One participants in Palo says the beach used to be far from where they live, but after Yolanda, the water came closer. In the back of schools or in front of the churches, there were mass graves. Hundreds of victims had to be buried in the improvised grave yards. We met a student who is going to visit his dead brother in the grave yard, but he was not crying. He was trying to keep smile in his face.
There were a lot of books destroyed by the typhoon. Some were quite valuable books, but they suddenly became useless. The teachers said they would just burn them. So we suggested to use the paper to make prints on. We could give new life to these books.
Do you plan to continue the workshop in the future?
Yes, I would like to. I felt something was wrong because the reason why I came back to Leyte after all these years was because of the typhoon. I should have visited before. My auntie even showed me pictures of me when I as a baby. She kept them. I felt very guilty because I felt that I took advantage of the typhoon. Things are slowly getting back to place, but the prices of things, like food and gas were doubled or even tripled. The shops are back in operation now, but there is long queue. There is still a long way to go to gain back the normal life.
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Vincent Navarro graduated from the University of the Philippines-Baguio with a degree in Fine Arts. Vince is a staunch environmentalist, who was inspired to create the portraits during his time helping out Benguet farmers with the Cordillera Green Network. In 2012, Vincent was also one of the Philippine representatives for the Japan East-Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS), and exchange program that aimed to promote Asian solidarity. He was also an active volunteer in CHildren’s International Summer Villages, a non-profit organisation that aims to achieve peace through inter-cultural cooperation. On February 16, 2016, he passed on before his scheduled departure to his residency in New York as the recipient of Asian Cultural Council grant.
© Vincent Navarro and Mayumi Hirano