I have been amazed to learn how artists in the
Philippines are good in multitasking, and Renan Ortiz is not an exception.
Aside from being an artist, he is an educator, activist and spokesman for the Concerned
Artists of the Philippines (CAP). We sat down together in a teahouse one
afternoon.
(Interviewed on September 9th,
2013, Interviewer: Mayumi Hirano)
*******************
How did you get into art?
I graduated at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts
in 2005. When I was in high school, I wanted to become an artist, but my
parents did not want me to be an artist, so I took up a pre-med course and I
ended up graduating political science. For a year after graduating, I wasn't
doing anything, so I decided to get into what I really liked the most - drawing
and making art. Then, I took up a formal art education in college.
How did you get involved in the
Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP)?
When I was pursuing for my
first degree in college, I was active in campus politics, and I was part of
student council. That's how I was acquainted with different progressive
political groups, though they were not artistic groups. When I graduated with
my second degree in fine arts, I was looking for an artist-activist organization
that I could join. Actually I asked Lisa Ito who graduated in the same year
with me, and she introduced me two organizations: UGATLahi Artist Collective and
Concerned Artists of the Philippines.
Were you involved in both collectives at that time?
I became shy with UGATLahi
because I saw there were many people while making effigies, and I felt my help was
not needed. Then I was invited to a sketching session organized by CAP in
National Council of Churches in Philippines. And this was during the time of Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo’s presidency. There were several human rights violations, and
many victims of political killings. The sketching session was for the relatives
of the victims to testify in front of us while we were sketching. That was
where I met several older artists, social realists, activists, and cultural
workers. That's why I joined the CAP.
Will you tell me about the CAP?
When I joined the group in
2007, there was already a big gap between the young artists and the artists
from 70’s and 80’s. The main principles of CAP are- to advocate freedom of expression,
to have a nationalist identity, and to assert that artists are also citizens. The
organization was formed in 1983, a month before the assassination of Benigno “Ninoy”
Aquino, which led to EDSA uprising in 1986. After 1986 when the dictatorship
ended, many artists felt there was no need to continue the organization because
democracy was back, but in the late 90’s, in response to President Joseph Estrada’s
corruption cases, many older artists felt the need to revive the organization,
so there was resurgence of artists, this time its more visual artists and
musicians. When the organization initially started in the 80’s, they were mostly
in film and theatre.
The original members of
CAP included big names. You have three National Artists of the Philippines, Bienvenido
Lumbera, who is our current chairman, and filmmakers Ishmael Bernal and Lino
Brocka. And we also have Benjamin “Behn” Cervantes, who passed away in 2013, as
well as actress and singer Armida Siguion-Reyna and director Carlos Siguion-Reyna.
Many progressive forces were part of the organization. They published a paid
advertisement in a newspaper, and called for artists to come together to form
CAP in 1983. The gathering was held in the National Press Club in Intramuros,
Manila.
How many people participated in this event?
There were many different
accounts - who were there, who weren’t there, and who left early. We haven’t
finalized the full lineup, but the core officers were Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal,
Behn Cervantes, Bonifacio Ilagan, Adul deLeon, Pete Lacaba, and other prominent
figures in film, media, theater and literature.
Now I think we have to re-contextualize our visions because the
formation of CAP was triggered by the issues of censorship. For example, when
the government censored the film of Behn Cervantes “SAKADA” (1976), CAP took
action. It was a film about a farmer working in a sugarcane field, tackling the
issues of the current political climate which is martial law. The cast include,
Robert Arevalo and Hilda Koronel, who were favorite actors of Ishmael Bernal
and Lino Brocka. Other casts include Pancho Magalona, the father of Francis Magalona,
Bembol Roco, Jr., Rosa Rosal, etc. The film was shown in the provinces, so it
resonated with the feeling of common people. But the film was censored and screenings
were shut down and confiscated by the Marcos administration.
Behn Cervantes and Lino Brocka were
sentenced to jail.
When Behn Cervantes passed away, different artists and activists came
and gave tribute for him. They said Cervantes went to the jail because he was a
famous personality unlike the others who were not known. In fact Cervantes,
along with Brocka, was known as bulaklak or flower of the city jail, because he
was gay. Ishmael Bernal, Lino Brocka, and himself were all from the Theatre
Department of UP, Diliman. Actually one of their contemporaries was Jose Maria Sison,
writer and activist who is considered to be the brains behind the
reestablishment of Communist Party of the Philippines, and one of their colleagues
in college was Nur Misuari, who would later form the secessionist Moro National
Liberation Front.
Does CAP still release newsletters?
Not any more. Back in the history, many of the members were writers,
including playwrights. Now we are mostly visual artists and musicians. Only
Lisa Ito is the writer.
What are the main activities of CAP?
CAP is not like the other older collectives/organizations in the 70’s
and 80’s , like Nagkakaisang Progressibong Artista at
Arkitekto (NPAA), Sangawa and Kaisahan, who collectively made big murals. CAP was
focused on organizing events wherein artists can create dialogues, tackle
issues and exhibit their works. We organize events and gather artists. For the
30th anniversary of CAP, we invited many members including veterans
to discuss about the state of their particular fields.
At present, CAP is involved in the abolition of the pork barrel. In
August 26,2013 there was a big protest rally in Rizal Park and in September 6,
2013 we launched a big alliance of artists who are against corruption in
general, not just against the pork barrel, it was held in a bar. We are dealing
with the very basic issues of corruption. Imagine what 10 billion pesos can do,
not just with health and education but also with the culture. Imagine the government
officials, instead of having luxury cars especially the politicians, the tax money should be used as cultural grants or travel
grants for artists and cultural workers.
The late Ishmael Bernal once pointed out that the taste of Filipino
audience has not been elevated. It is actually not only the fault of the artists
or galleries but also the fault of education in general. I think it is important because when you look
at foreign artists like Duchamp, who emphasized the importance of audience. In
the Philippines, I think the situation is different, because your audience is
not that educated. For example one of my students in art class made a big
installation of nails. It’s a good work. He showed it in an exhibition, and one
of the maintenance people in the school came up to me and said “after the
exhibition, can I have the nails because I need it for the house?” For some
people, art materials are merely something useful.
I think the kind of situation is
rather common in the Non-Western context.
Yes, people are more practical. They don't care about philosophical
aspects of art. Especially in the case of the Philippines, we lack housing and
basic living needs. This influences on how people react to the materials.
How does CAP function as an
organization? Do you have structure and other members who are taking care of
the programs with you?
For now what we do is work by each field or department. We focus on
the visual arts first, because many of us come from the visual arts. The music department
is also active. There are a lot of musicians and bands. So we come up with
different activities, because we have board members composed of older artists,
which is like a council of elders. They are the ones who advise us to deal with
certain issues and run a campaign for freedom of expression. CAP has a big
membership and it is growing since the time of Martial Law, but a lot of them
are very busy outside of CAP. There are senior artists, like Egai Fernandez,
who don’t regularly attend meetings, but who are willing to lend us images of
their work for publications. There are also activity-based members, and
issue-based members. For example, members who are against the US bases in the
country do not participate in activities dealing with issues of freedom of
expressions. I find it exciting because different artists have different
perspectives and care about different issues. Each artist contributes to the
group, depending on their skills. So musicians just stick to gigs, but they
don't usually go to exhibition openings. Visual artists don't go that much to
gigs or live music or book launching events. However, the current issue of the
pork barrel has gathered artists from different fields.
Do you think your individual art
practice is related to your activity at CAP?
Yes, they are much related
because it's through CAP and old members of the CAP I got acquainted with
different issues and they pass on different stories to you, when they tell you
stories, it’s like learning about history of art. For example, I learned a
story from Orly Castillo about the Shell Student Art Competition. Shell was an
international oil company that sponsored the competition and different artists
went against it. When the activists won the 1st to 3rd
prizes, they burnt their paintings, as an act of protest. It wasn’t documented,
but it is an infamous story. It’s good to know older artists, because it creates
a link between the past and present.
Do you see art and activism can work
together?
There is a funny story I
want to tell you. After the Luneta rally in August 26, 2013 some of the
progressive artists marched towards Mendiola, near the Malacanang Palace where
the president hold office, and along the way, young artists made graffiti and
street art along the way. We heard a news report on the radio, reporting these “rowdy”
radical artist-activists “vandalized” the streets and defaced the city, and the
announcer asked the reporter how it looked like. We laughed because the
reporter said “you know, this is actually good art.” I don’t think that was the
answer the radio announcer was expecting.
x
RENAN ORTIZ
(b.1977, Manila) holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the
Philippines as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Ortiz is the
recipient of the
Thirteen Artist Award by the Cultural Center of the
Philippines (2012). He is an artist/curator and community organizer known for
his political activism that resonates in his multi-media works (which also
includes media and technology). He has been a member of the Concerned Artists
of the Philippines Secretariat since 2006, Start Art Foundation board member
since 2008, a member of the Philippine Printmakers Association since 2009, and
a member of the Executive Council of the National Commission for Culture and
the Art’s Visual Arts Committee since 2010. Among his recent exhibits were: The President’s Office (West Wing, UP
Vargsa Museum, 2013), Lupa: Struggle for Land(Main Gallery, UP Vargas Museum,
2013), Populus (Drawing Room Gallery, Gillman Barracks, Singapore, 2012). Ortiz
teaches art at the Philippine Science High School.
Artist Website:
Concerned Artsits of the Philippines: http://concernedartistsphil.org/
© Renan Ortiz and the author