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In
your artistic practice, film and visual art intersect. You are also a teacher
and critic. How did all these things come together?
I was drawing since when I was a kid. I
remember loving things that I see in the movies. I try to recall these things by
making drawings after coming back home from cinema. When I learned that there
are people who were called “artists”, I already thought I wanted to be one. I
went to technical high school and majored in architectural drafting, which was
the closest I could get to train my drawing skills while studying in high school.
In college, I took an architecture course one semester, but then I shifted to
fine arts.
During my college days, I codirected a film as
a student, but production was not my real interest. I love watching cinema, so
I prefer to review what I watch. I write a column for a newspaper. It's an
extension of my interest in theory of aesthetics. I don't see any distinction
between painting and film. I apply my interest in aesthetics and art theory to
visual arts and cinema.
Discussing
forms as manifestation of ideas leads us to the discovery of the correlation
between the artwork and its context. I think your group effort to rehabilitate
the post-disaster trauma is also an example. How did it start? Did you have
prior experience of leading psycho-therapy art workshops?
One of the first workshop that I volunteered
was held for families of victims of Maguindanao massacre in 2010. My best
friend was a victim of the incident. In the workshop we made terracotta and
wood curving as well as painting. I also volunteered in art therapy workshop in
Cagayan de Oro during the typhoon Sendong tragedy in 2011, as well as a
workshop for prisoners in 2012 in Cebu.
Few days after the 7.2 earthquake hit Bohol and
Cebu, I posted a status on Facebook suggesting to artist-friends that we gather
to some public place to do a one-day art fair to raise funds for the earthquake
victims in Bohol. The idea was to do it Occupy Movement style: no names, no
organizations, no sponsors. The artists would just come together at a public
plaza or church to sell their works and collect the proceeds in a 5-gallon
clear plastic water container that would be donated to a church for their
relief operation.
Artists immediately responded. Annie Lim, the
owner of Anthill Gallery, who is also an active parishioner volunteered to
negotiate with the Redemptorist priests so we can hold our art fair at their
church grounds. We realized that we needed to secure permits to be able to use
the public plaza.
Artists belonging to different groups pledged
support. After a couple of meetings between the volunteer artists, Anthill
staff, and members of the Redemptorist Social Action Center, it was decided
that what the victims needed more was no longer relief goods but psychosocial
support. Trauma appears only after people are starting to settle, after the initial
phase of the post-disaster where people are focused on getting food and
shelter. The trauma starts to sink in with a quiet moment. Usually it takes a
few weeks after, and this is when art could play a role. This is why we decided
to change our plan to do art therapy.
We then changed our plans from raising funds
for relief operations to that of art therapy for children. A campaign was
launched to promote the art fair, solicit donations of relief goods and art
materials in universities, on the social networks, and in the Redemptorist
community.
During this campaign Yolanda came so we had to
meet again to discuss if we pursue our original plan for the operation in Bohol
or focus instead on Leyte or the Northern Cebu. Actually we said we can do
both. The art fair was held in November 17, 2013 in the Redemptorist Church
grounds. Many artists came to sell or donate their works and 100% of proceeds
went to the mission fund. We also held sketching sessions.
I
imagine it would be psychologically challenging for the artists to be exposed
to the personal experiences of the victims.
Actually we didn't have formal training, but
some one of us, like me, had previous experiences and some training workshops
prior to going to the activities, but we thought it might be good to get some
experts to give us some guideline. We had a help from clinical psychologist
from Manila who gave us a course.
For example, it's very important to know what
shouldn't be done, although we think that art itself is the therapy. The
original idea was to give the children a fun moment, where they could express
themselves. But still we needed to know what are the do’s and don’s.
For instance, you cannot be judgmental to them.
You cannot moralize. You cannot say “forget about it, move on”. That's wrong. In
fact it's important that they cry and express their emotion and let it go out, not
keep it. If you keep it, it's going to be a problem. This was one of the things
that we needed to know beforehand. Then we felt we were ready to go to Bohol.
Also after we came back to Cebu, we continued facilitation
training with the psychologists. It was also therapy for the artists who just
went through the moving testimonies.
How
do you enter into the affected community?
The Redemptorist Social Action Center had been
doing a community work, and they are quite organized and we told them that we
wanted to help. Immediately they directed us to Bohol. We also got in touch with
the local artists there in Bohol, because we wanted the local artists to not
only help us but also to take an initiative. Some of them attended the class course
by the psychologist from Manila so that they can facilitate the workshop on
their own. One of the officers in the council, Mr. Gardy Labad is a president
of theatre group, so he helped us find local artists and volunteers there. He
was very instrumental in facilitating things, arranging transportation and even
accommodating us there. We stayed in his house.
What we started was actually very small but
actually it became quite big where a lot of people came in to help. A lot of
people volunteered to help us. A lot of people donated money and art supplies. We
even posted the activities online for our friends in France and abroad, and
some of them even organized their own activities there to help raise fund for
art therapy.
What’s the process of the art therapy workshop?
For example in Bohol, more than 100 almost 200 students participated in the workshop. In the morning, the local theatre artists conducted the warm-up session by using some kinds of action games. In the afternoon, we held the stress relief session where we let the students to talk about their experiences and express their feelings. They made drawings, and made assemblage with things that symbolized their wishes. Those were exhibited in the walls of the school buildings. We also brought and exhibited cards of hopes addressed to the children from the students of UP Cebu in the school building.
Actually it's not always easy to know which area really needs help. Donation might not be delivered equally. That’s why it’s important to get in touch with people, because they know the reality. It could be complicated, when politics come in. That's why we prefer to work with people who are not associated with the government. We want to visit the locations with immediate necessity as far as Leyte, but then it’d be too complicated logistically and financially. So we are focusing on the victims in Northern Cebu, who are not getting that much help.
I'm looking forward to joining your visit with the elementary school children in Bogo later this month.
On December 22, Paredes and group of artists, called Mugna, made a visit to an elementary school in Bogo in the North of Cebu Island, which was affected by the supertyhoon Haiyan. Art therapy was not conducted this time; the workshop began with introduction of each artist and continued into the students' music performance, playing games and gift giving.
On December 22, Paredes and group of artists, called Mugna, made a visit to an elementary school in Bogo in the North of Cebu Island, which was affected by the supertyhoon Haiyan. Art therapy was not conducted this time; the workshop began with introduction of each artist and continued into the students' music performance, playing games and gift giving.
X
Radel Paredes teaches at the Department
of Fine Arts of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, Philippines. A
pioneering fellow in the Cultural Center of the Philippines Summer Arts
Workshop, he represented his country thrice in the ASEAN Jury during the
China-ASEAN Youth Artwork and Creativity Contest from 2006-2008. He was also
the Visayas curator for the Sungduan 4, the national exhibit of contemporary
art in the Philippines. Paredes writes a weekly column in Cebu Daily News.
© Radel Paredes and Mayumi
Hirano