Kasi-Kasi Art Association of Tacloban: Yolanda is no match to their art

They came to Manila to exhibit their artworks. More than that, they came bearing the strength and fortitude of Yolanda survivors.

The happy colors on their canvasses betray the pain they bear to this day. With one voice, they find their muse in the tragedy of losing their loved ones, their friends, their homes.

They find their strength in art. They find their will to live each day using art as therapy. Art anchors them to become resilient.

Meet the Kasi-Kasi Art Association of Tacloban: Raul Agner, Archimedes Prisno, Ernie Ybanez, Jun Olimberio, Rico Palacio, Jazz Diaz, Billy Pomida, Aaron JP Almadro, Crispin Asensi, Ge-Ann Balintec, Archie Zabala, Tata De la Cruz, Rap Palacio and Dante Enage.

Their recent paperclay art exhibit titled Paglaum at the Newport Mall Resorts World essayed their willingness to stand up, face the world, move on and move forward.

Separate exhibits of their works are held at the Manila FAME Expo at the SMX Mall of Asia until today and at the Manila Art Expo at the SMX Aura until today, too.

“Paglaum means hope in Waray,” says Dante Enage, president of Kasi-Kasi artists. His series of Usbong shows how hope moves him to be the best person he can be despite the hardship he experiences every day in Tacloban after Yolanda wrought havoc on Nov. 8, 2013.

“I’m a survivor. I will survive further for my family,” Dante says in Tagalog. “The 14 members of Kasi-Kasi will prove to the world the strength we gather through our art.” A month before Yolanda struck Tacloban, Dante exhibited his paintings at the Malaysian Art Expo and the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The members of Kasi-Kasi use pain as their brush, hope as their canvas and strength as their easel to execute their inclination to live and survive. The smile on their faces is the color that further illuminates the patina of their artworks. Many times, the gnashing lines or strokes of Yolanda are not palpable on their canvases, let alone in their disposition. Through art, they give dignity to their pain and in the process they respect the joy they reap with the artwork they create.

In Paglaum, they didn’t use paintbrushes to do their paperclay artworks. Instead, they used sticks, palette knives, spoons and forks to press the paperclay onto their canvases. Paperclay is a patented medium developed in 2005 by JNBM Paperclay, a Filipino company. JNBM brought the Kasi-Kasi artists to Manila this time to show the world the talent of Kasi-Kasi members and how art aids in their healing. The exhibit was also made possible by Tindog Tacloban, a movement that envisions to eradicate systematic poverty in Tacloban through transformational projects.

The paperclay is totally a new medium for the Kasi-Kasi artists. Because it is fresh and unique, the paperclay medium becomes a joy to use for the Waray artists. Others find it more challenging to use than the other conventional mediums they are accustomed to use like oil, acrylic, watercolor or even barok (the pigment of red lauan tree).

Paglaum is the fourth exhibit of the 14-year-old Kasi-Kasi group in Manila. They had a group exhibit titled Pitad (Step forward) at the Adamson University in February, Ang Pagbangon at the Rizal Park in May, and Saha (Sprout) at UP Diliman in August.

For Archie Zabala, Yolanda is a nightmare he tries to erase by painting beautiful thoughts on his canvas. He lost 11 members of his family to the fury of Yolanda, including his mother, his two brothers and aunts. “Yolanda taught me to be strong because I was already weak,” Archie says in the vernacular. As an artist, Archie works predominantly in the media of sculpture and painting. His pieces of sculpture are on permanent display at the UP Tacloban. He has also artworks that are on permanent exhibit in a gallery in Japan.

“Be hopeful,” says Billy Pomida of the single lesson he learned from the tragedy. “If you dwell on the tragedy, it is very difficult to create art. The tragedy is also a muse, an inspiration to create art.” Billy, who took up Fine Arts at the University of the East in Manila, has exhibited in the US and Malaysia.

Ernie Ybanez, the “youngest” in the group at 69, was far away from his family in Tacloban when Yolanda wrought havoc. Ernie, a mechanical engineer and a veteran in one-man exhibits around the Philippines, walked 35 kilometers to be with them. On his way to meet them, he fortified himself with hope notwithstanding the pile of dead people he walked past on the road. There are more than 6,000 people in the record who died in the tragedy. The Kasi-Kasi artists believe “there could be more than 10,000 casualties because many are still missing.”

Crispin Asensi gets to smile sincerely now because of his devotion to his art. “We display our positive side despite the tragedy,” he says. His brilliant expressionism style uses what he calls Tramo art or traditional modern art.

“With art, I am able to release the stress of life, particularly the trauma brought by Yolanda,” says Rico Palacio, whose many artworks have been brought to Japan by Peace Development Fund.

“The spirit to survive is the positive outcome of Yolanda,” says Jun Olimberio of the silver lining the super typhoon brought him. Jun, who learned to draw at three years old and paint at 11, is a multi-gifted and dedicated painter, violinist and martial arts grand master. 

Yolanda changed the landscape of Tacloban and ultimately it changed the lives of all the people there, including the Kasi-Kasi artists. But it is in changes that the artists thrive, however painful the changes are, however bleak the prospects may be. The power of their creativity, the strength of their imagination, their disposition to survive and live anew — all these give birth to Paglaum. It is their hope — one paperclay at a time or one stroke of their paintbrush on their canvas at a time — to rise above the tragedy. With their artworks, they wash away their hurts and pains because they believe that art is the muse that will splay sunshine in their lives again.

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)