The Broken Soul

From my Sunday walk during the Baguio City Country Fair 2022, I came to the crossing of Session Road and Calderon Street. I noticed people were starting to turn to the latter so I followed and found artists scattered on the street with their painting materials. I wasn't sure if it was impromptu painting contest or just street exhibit but I did not bother to ask. I just went around checking their works of art.

Some of the art works were already done and on full display. There was no artist beside each completed art so I wondered if they were just too fast to have finished early or if the arts were already completed before that day.

One of the unfinished art that caught my attention was the image of a woman that looked like in anguish. The hips part was done so I was able to tell that she was wearingtapis or the traditonal wrap-around skirt of the Cordillerans. The torso was pushed forward and her arms were holding her belly like she was fighting some pains. Up to the neck was still pencil sketches which I cannot decipher the head so I asked the artist working on it.

"Where's the head?"

With his right index finger, he drew an invisible line from left to right on the upper part of the canvass. Oh, there it is! The neck is fully bent backward that the face is already in parallel with and facing the sky. With the blue background which seems like the sky, she was like crying to high heavens which affirms my initial impression of anguish.

"She seems crying to high heavens," I commented.

"Yes, because of her broken soul," answered the artist.

"Oh, that's what you are portraying with her."

He stopped what he was doing and paid more attention to me. He further explained the story behind his artwork.

"It is about how women were broken after we Cordillerans were colonized by Americans after the 1940s, even today with non-Cordilleran outsiders. They brought unpleasant practices and cultures that destroyed ours, including our environment," explained the artist.

He must have known that my roots were from the Cordillera because I spoke in our local dialect. He was motioning between the two of us when he spoke of "ours", practices and cultures, his and mine.

I did not reply but I agree with his sentiment. On the other hand, we cannot deny the fact that the modernization brought about by outsiders also brought benefits to the locality. I just wish we can find the perfect balance without sacrificing any of either sides.

I did not bother asking the artist's name. I just thanked him and moved on.

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