Vanity and Urbanity

Representing (in) vain: Is THIS Manila?

Represent Manila
2010

The problem, they say, is our negative image. And in this battle of images, Represent Manila is retaliating with a whole lot of them.

Manila is HIP, they argue with conviction, in capital letters. “It’s a pity that the international circle (or at least most of them) are missing out a lot (sic).” Represent Manila tries to shirk off these bad vibes, as if to say, “Noooo, it’s not really like that here, massacres and election fraud just happen in far-flung places like Maguindanao! In Manila, people just party and booze up just like normal people!”

What to Do with the Artist’s Class Guilt?

Navarroza's art as a response to injustice: Photographer Wig Tysmans (right) as the condemned figure (left) in Goya's famous painting.

Not Today
Wawi Navarroza
Billboard / C-print, 61 x 76 cm, editions of 5
2010

Wawi Navarroza reminds me of Duane Michals. Well, not exactly, because that would be an insult to Michals. Navarroza just reminds me of something Michals said in an interview while discussing political art. “The bar keeps getting lower and lower and lower,” he said. “All these kids are spewing out of art school photographing their dinner and then making it a 20-foot photograph.”

Michals then shared an anecdote about an exhibit by a female photographer who “wasn’t even looking through the lens.” (This reminds me of the current craze for trendy/cutesy Holgas and everything lomography.) In short, Michals found this woman and her art appalling: