Blog Entry #1 - Pandora's Box


"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein.


This quote from Einstein in particular can sum up the digital drawing created by Iñigo Angelo Dabuet, a person I became friends with after years of being present in the campus journalism scene during High School. He created this digital artwork last 2020, during the early days of lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus. Well, as you can see and from the title itself, his work was inspired and based on Greek mythology--particularly the story about Pandora's box. To those who are not familiar with the story, the story is all about Pandora, who was entrusted to take care of a box and was thoroughly warned not to open it. Despite the warnings, Pandora--out of curiosity--still opened the box that unleashed many horrible things like greed, war, etc. Dabuet compared the story to how the Philippine government seemed to ignore the early warnings to declare a travel ban to and from China--which is the country of origin of the COVID virus--since the administration at that time seems to prioritize always an amicable relationship with China.


Dabuet utilized different symbols in his work, which is common when doing Editorial cartoons. For example, the barong that the man is wearing represents the Philippine government, while the box with the Chinese flag that was opened symbolizes the devastating virus being unleashed upon our nation. This artwork left an impression on me as this debunked the belief of many, especially the pro-administration people, that the Philippines and its people will inevitably encounter the COVID-19 virus. Dabuet's creation highlighted the early stages of the COVID-19 virus spreading globally and the bad decision-making of the government to ignore the signs of implementing a travel ban. This decision eventually led the Philippines to suffer greatly from the virus, to the point that as of writing this blog, there are still active cases of the virus being recorded.


From the many definitions of arts, arts is something that has shared similarities to artworks preceding it. Dabuet's creation utilized a well-known literary masterpiece, even utilizing the main symbol in the story of Pandora's box. His creation strongly conveyed a message, especially to the Filipinos, how one decision certainly played a huge part in why we endured the pandemic for so long. His work has also managed to remind the youth, including the young campus journalists, that all of us should look at a bigger perspective and how it is essential to always do some research.

#

****Hello readers! Thank you for spending your time and reading my blog! How was it? Do you like it? Do you have any questions? Feel free to comment down below! 

Source of Image: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2551212765126871&id=2341522659429217
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Entry #4 - The Dark Side of Art in the Philippines

Image
Hidden Agendas   The art scene in the Philippines has grown significantly throughout the years. A huge part of this growth came from the establishment of different museums or art galleries that can be accessed by the people. One of these galleries is the Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG)--which notably houses different donated artworks, including some art pieces procured by Filipino tycoons--that enables many people to see these artworks. However, there is no such thing as free in this capitalism-laden society as these acts of generosity by these rich people are only acts that will further advance their money-making agendas.     The article "176 Gifts/ 176 Dispossessions" written by Angelo Suarez and Donna Miranda further dissect and divulge how the donations in disguise made by these rich people are actually connected to the economic and violence issues in the country. First, the article provided some background on the establishment of AAG, starting from Fernando Zobel who starte...
Read more

Blog Entry #3 - Bourdieu's Cultural Capital

Image
 This concept map above shows how the concept of Cultural Capital works. The concept of Cultural Capital was introduced by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Cultural Capital is defined as the accumulation of skills, knowledge, and other characteristics of a person, which he/she can then utilize to show one's abilities and competence. As seen in the concept map, the privilege of a person and capital--i.e. the assets a person can tap into in order to enhance his/her own craft further--has a huge factor on what cultural capital a person will have. For example, a person born with a good birthright and social standing--possibly coming from the wealth of his/her parents, or even his/her lineage in general--will surely have an edge when it comes to accumulating skills and enhancing their craft compared to others since they will surely have better access to money and people who may help them to improve. They can also utilize their resources to enroll in advanced classes or workshop that ...
Read more