Rainy day artwork
As of today it’s been raining in Pangasinan for a week or more. Seeing all the news of flooding, especially after year after year of flooding, I did what I usually do when I’m filled to the brim with something – I drew.
My first artwork is a “recipe” for “baha and bagyo proof batsoy” (flooding and typhoon proof batsoy soup). I chose batsoy, the quintessential Ilonggo dish from La Paz in Iloilo, mainly for alliteration. But mostly because it would have been really great to have this on a rainy day such as today. The recipe goes like this:
Baha and bagyo proof batsoy
- Flood mitigating miki noodles
- 2 tablespoons public pressure paminta
- Corruption-free chicharon
- Proper land-use pork liver
- Sustainability sibuyas
- Barangay-based broth of ideas
- 1 bone marrow budget for mangroves
- Water from a forested watershed
Serve hot with accountability.
The next artwork I drew would be for my Philippine Wildlife Art project. Every time I look at Metro Manila’s flood issues, I imagine I’m a bird flying from above that can travel in time. I rewind and fast forward, seeing how the metropolis was built on low-lying wetland areas, and see it today… it is still a wetland but now full of pavement and water. Or I’m on Google Maps changing the satellite view by year, I guess I don’t necessarily have to be a time traveling bird, but that would be great though wouldn’t it?
Anyway, I was inspired to draw a long-time resident of Manila, the egret or “tagak”. She stands beside a little boy, wondering why the both of them have to flee to survive a place they’ve long called home.
Very sad pieces of artwork. But are we not sad that our friends and relatives (if not us) are waist-deep, knee-deep, or whatever deep in dirty flood waters? The lack of collaboration, insight, foresight, planning, and moral aptitude in political leaders is one such recipe for disaster(s). And repeating this mistake, year after year, is everyone’s fault if we all don’t do something about it. Ok time for some tinola.