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By Gary C. Devilles
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Impy
Pilapil |
Esteemed artist Impy Pilapil’s
exhibit at the gardens of Ateneo de Manila University
features large outdoor interactive sculptures. Known for her glass
sculptures redolent of reflection and images of the sea, her
sculptures reflect what theosophist Rudolf Steiner called the twelve
senses: namely, the ego, thought, word, hearing, balance, movement,
life, touch, warmth, sight, taste, and smell. Art, in its truest
essence, after all should give the audience a full-bodied experience
that also engages the mind.
For Pilapil, such interaction
between art and its audience is kindled by a benevolent force
present in the piece, usually solidified through the process of
creation. In The Mangrove: Nature’s Embrace, Pilapil was inspired
by mangrove trees; in particular, how the prominent root zone of the
trees become an apt metaphor for nature’s harmony with humanity.
“As a highly productive ecosystem that thrives between water, the
roots provide an all- embracing, protective and nurturing habitat
that serves the life cycle of a whole range of marine life and
land-dwelling species, and also a key factor in preventing soil
erosion,” the lady modern artist says. The artist perceives a
parallel between the tree and humanity’s purpose on this planet.
The challenge therefore is to find the balance between advancing
technology and maintenance of environmental consciousness. “On the
physical level, mangrove roots grow to a dome-like pattern that
symbolically brings to mind ideas like shelter, protection and
safety, comprising the needs of all living things. On another level,
it evokes an embrace that provides the most basic emotional need of
man from the time he is born,” Pilapil explains. For the artist,
everyone is deeply rooted to a family or culture, and such
rootedness invites one to reflect on our innate desire to be loved
and to belong.
In Humming Stone, Pilapil tells
that everyone has his or her own vibration or body tremor that is
brought out by humming. She believes that in ancient times, humming
was more practiced than dancing, singing or playing musical
instruments. Humming enlivens the toning of the whole human
organism, and in this sculpture, one is instructed to place one’s
head in the hole and then hum as long as one is able to until no air
is left in the lungs. With this activity, one becomes aware not only
of breathing patterns but also of one’s specific body tremor that
should be cultivated as this reverberates not only within but also
in the universe as well. Humming could have been humanity’s most
ancient form of communication, and in this stone one attempts to
talk to the past.
Impy believes that sound created
by wind and other natural forces are also the most primeval sound of
the world, and thus, in Chime Halo she recreated how chime works
using bamboo. Here, one is instructed to make a sound path by going
through the hanging bamboo from different points. The sound emitted
are believed to attract benevolent spirits while driving away
malevolent ones. The percussion tones also harmonize one’s energy
by relieving stress and emotional blockage. Similarly in Music
Chamber, Pilapil believes that music speaks what cannot be
expressed, soothes the mind, heals the heart, and makes one whole
again.
In The Barefoot Trail, one is
instructed to walk barefoot with eyes closed and led by another.
This activity allows an experience of a soothing massage coming from
different natural textures on the soles of the feet. By closing
one’s eyes and by feeling through from beneath one’s feet,
Pilapil believes that our senses become more acute. “We are
reminded that there are other ways to perceive and experience
things, as well as how there can be much more to what we see,” she
intones.
In this installation exhibit, one
can indeed take a refuge, especially in Nautilus where the spiraling
bamboo walls resemble the inner journey one takes as one communes
with the self, or paint with what one desires on the Wishing Table,
or play Sungka as this ancient game reminds Filipinos of our
instinctive ties with the sea since the sungka resembles a boat, and
the shells we play with it are the gifts of the sea. This
installation art might as well be Impy Pilapil’s gifts to us,
especially now in this opportune time that we are called to discern
critically on the fate of our nation. Philosopher Hannah Arendt
believes that even in the darkest of times, we have the right to
expect some illumination, and that such illumination may come less
from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and
often weak light that some men and women in their lives and works
will kindle under almost all circumstances. Impy Pilapil gives us
the chance to hope.
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