THE Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) brands its CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts (CCP EPA) as “the most comprehensive source of information on Philippine art and culture.”
The latest edition of this important compendium carries over 5,000 articles across 12 volumes. Meanwhile, its digital edition also presents hundreds of video excerpts from dances and musical performances from the CCP archives. In line with the recent Mother’s Day celebration, the CCP highlighted a few artworks in the CCP EPA “that immortalized on canvas the importance of women as a mother figure.”
‘Tatlong Buddhang Ina,’ Agnes Arellano
Tatlong Buddhang Ina of surrealist/expressionist sculptor Agnes Arellano depicts a deity of roads from the Yoruba religion. The artwork was exhibited at the 6th Havana Biennale in 1997, accompanied by her painting Eshu, which shows the deities Dea, Vesta and Lola, who each represent a different stage of motherhood.
Dea, for one, reflects Arellano’s struggles in giving birth through caesarean delivery, her transition into motherhood, and as a stepmother. She comes to be molting an old version of herself, equipped with wings and four pairs of breasts. Meanwhile, Vesta carries a large lizard as an emblem of fertility, while providing milk and honey to symbolize breastfeeding. Lastly, Lola appears freed from reproductive and sexual responsibilities through aging, gaining a love lost through intellectual fulfillment by turning inward.
‘Childbirth,’ Romeo Tabuena
THE 1949 painting of Iloilo-born printmaker and painter Romeo Tabuena, titled Childbirth, presents a familiar mythological scene. As the distressed mother prepares to deliver her baby, a manghihilot (midwife) massages her heaving stomach, while an aswang (a mythological creature in Philippine folklore) lurks around, awaiting the newborn baby.
Tabuena intensifies the moment using dramatic lighting. It’s a masterful play on light and shadow that produces a harrowing effect, accentuating the folk quality to great effect.
‘Brown Madonna,’ Galo Ocampo
THE pre-war modernist work Brown Madonna by painter Galo Ocampo departs from a traditional colonial iconography.
Set in a rural scene with thatched hut, tropical bamboo, and evocative mountains of rice terraces, the painting represents rural Filipino through the baro’t saya and tapis of Mary, along with brown complexion and features. Ocampo’s modernist style shines in his use of bright colors, flat decorative effects, spatial recession as depth, and the absence of linear perspective.
Ocampo’s work was inspired by Paul Gauguin’s 1891 Tahitian work La Orana Maria, which deals with themes of nationalism and indigenization.
‘Chickens,’ Anita Magsaysay-Ho
Modernist pioneer Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s Chickens is part of a 1960s series depicting women harvesting fruits and grains, and vending fish in the market. The artwork emphasized movement in busy interactions through bold and dynamic brushstrokes, strong contrast of shadow and light.
Amid the bustling scene, Magsaysay-Ho’s style presents the simplification of forms into basic geometric shapes, like bandanas as triangles and rectangles for skirts.
‘The Quiason Family 1880,’ Simon Flores
IN this group portrait of ilustrados in the 19th century, artist Simon Flores portrayed a family of two children, a father with dark-toned trousers and a mother wearing a dark skirt. The mother and her children wear formal expressions that suggest a high moral tone to be emulated.
Painted in full figure, the artist manages to meticulously catch all details of embroidery, textures of their outfits, and accessories in a miniaturist manner. Also seen in the portrait is a vase of flowers that symbolizes beauty, abundance, and wealth.
The CCP EPA was launched in 1995. It took nearly 25 years for the follow-up print edition to come out in 2020, covering Philippine Architecture, Philippine Dance, Philippine Theater, Philippine Music, Philippine Literature, Philippine Visual Arts, Philippine Broadcast Arts, Philippine Film and Peoples of the Philippines.
In 2020, the CCP also released the CCP EPA Digital Edition as one of its flagship educational projects, bringing its most comprehensive and authoritative sourcebook on arts and culture to the online space and closer to younger generations.
Subscriptions to the CCP EPA are priced at P75 per month or P675 per year.
More information about the CCP EPA print edition and USB digital edition is available at epa.culturalcenter.gov.ph/encylopedia.
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