HIRAYA

MARIA FRANCISCA JUAREZ

Culture is something that must be positively acquired by a people over generations. A nation may be aggressively progressive but if they do not have a way of expressing its collective beliefs and customs it will not prosper. For her first solo exhibition at the Arte Bettina, Hiraya by Maria Francesca Juarez seeks to visually document our way of interpreting the hopes and dreams by certain Philippine indigenous tribes and cultural festivals that makes us unique and different from other peoples of the world. These are our forebears before the Spanish colonizers settled on our shores.

Done in contemporary realism particular to Cebu-based artists, Juarez is heir to a great tradition of painters which started by the late Master Martino Abellana that continued through a lineage of artists. It is a visual style that is more impressionist than Fernando Amorsolo but finer in brushstrokes than Juan Luna.

Based in Toledo, Juarez is a member of the Aroma Academy founded by Orley Ypon. The special training by Juarez is in capturing the height of the moment as she depicted the indigenous people and how they go about their daily lives. Juarez also favors the sun as it initially interacts with a lush landscape or seascape. Only someone who literally grew up in such bountiful rural environment could confidently render in broad brushstrokes.

In Hiraya, Juarez immortalized the best part of the harvest celebrations—as they prepare for festivities as thanksgiving for a good bounty. Commendable is her focus on their native wear and the exquisite detail in their facial expressions. Juarez has a promising eye and would be exciting to see her unravel bigger works in the future.

As people adapt to modern times, it is culture that binds them as it enhances our quality of life and increases our overall well-being for both individuals and communities. Juarez’s brushstrokes are both raw and textured inducing spontaneity, as well as, living on the edge as her subjects are depicted.

Juarez painted culture as an essential reflection of a community. She captured how culture reacts, responds and grows with the times. As culture transmits traditions and native practices, they shape us into who we are. In the end, a nation is its culture—its symbols, language, and values. And in Hiraya, we are grateful for Juarez in painterly reminding us that in her mixing three coats of paint on framed canvas after canvas we still live as Filipinos as we were.

Text by Jay Bautista