DEC13_SUPERDUPERFINAL

Finally, Joshua Serafin, conjures a cosmology:
A series of visual studies on embodying gods and creating
environment. Referencing spiritual background as a child, and
the early knowledge of Philippine (mainly Visayas) mythology,
traditions, and precolonial gender belief systems passed down
through generational knowledge. Transfiguring local experiences to
global consciousness and designing entities.
The impetus of working on “Cosmological Gangbang” is to
decolonize oneself and to question heteronormative cultural and
historical iconographies and ideologies that were implemented
by western colonizers in the Philippines, but also in all colonized
nations. Further, to decolonize the body by using the lens of precolonial
Philippines ideology on gender fluidity to introduce this
queer aspect, and also in relation to other parallel narratives of
indigenous spiritual and culture practices that have existed from
around the world and throughout history.
What came out from the invitation of VIVA: it has set a condition
for me to visualize and materialize a certain narrative.
I wanted to create this new world, this new cosmology in which I
design four different gods coming from different portals which in
the works take the form of a vulva. Which I believe is one of the
most powerful portals existing in our universe. A place where life is
created and comes out. An entity that is powerful enough to give
life. Besides this I believe in this grounded power of woman.
Together with the four gods I created two creatures that serve this
god as a protector, a guardian/assistance; or can also be read as their
own child.
These four gods coming from different worlds who sustain and
maintain a specific realm and take care of specific conditions. One
as the light (sinag), dark (dulom), the all reflection of oneself (Ikaunang
gawang), and the void or the emptiness (ika-duwa na gawang).
These four gods would soon then give a ritual that comes in a form
of, dance, song, text, and nothingness as offering to the pearl mother.
Hence the Gangbang, a Gangbang of rituals. The mother pear who
is the central force will soon then gather all of these practices to be
able to procreate the new god coming from other gods. This new
creature, this new god will soon then need to live in the mortal
world to better understand what humanity needs from a god at this
time.
This is basically the narrative of the work but it is also coming from
my own personal journey. Having been coming from Bacolod, then
moving to Manila, Los Baños, then back to Manila, Hong Kong,
and now Belgium or Europe. This work hopes to encompass all
narratives and cultures I have accumulated from all these places. My
own personal journey as a human framed in another fantasy world.
A fantasy of becoming, and a fantasy of global knowledge put into
one body. A body that is not defined by a specific religion, a body
that is not defined by color of the skin, a body that can become
whatever it wants to serve a bigger purpose in our society.
The kalibutan in the way it constantly turns is mediated by memory,
which gathers its own subjectivity in relation to the perceived
historical event and its historical account. The contingency of
remembering speaks to the vacillation of kalibutan between the
reflection of consciousness and the trace of sensing that does not
seem to stray into cognition. The work of Leo Abaya nurtures this
inclination and the specificity of its articulation in digital space.
According to him: “I envision the Internet site to only show the
“present view” of the landscape every week, not so unlike an episode
of a TV series or the single frame of the time-lapse sequence of an
unfolding event. I may also include handwritten text in the tableau
to complement the varying tones conveyed by the images. This
site can be featured as part of the online presence of VIVA ExCon
2020. To eventually show the evolution of the landscape after nine
months, as a continuum, is contingent on the conditions emerging
as the project unfolds.” Abaya’s diorama digitally dilates over time,
disseminated scene by scene. He calls it Unsang Dapita? This means
which place or location? The goal of Leo was to “shoot, process, and
upload on the website, photographs of this landscape-world that I
fabricated in my home studio, under the COVID-19 lockdown. As
a serialized narrative, one photograph per week will be shown on
this page, each bearing subtle or distinct changes from the previous
one, exemplifying or describing our footprint on this world.” While
the diorama was the main form of the project, photography played
a critical role in conveying the image to cyberspace and in zeroing in
on the minutiae of an incipient world. Vernacular poetry would then
layer the diorama and photography, alluding to personal narrative
and local wisdom.
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