18/11/2021
This was my entry for HUION's Ideal World Competition. I didn't make the cut but I was really proud to share what my childhood looks like through a piece.
"SLUMP ICARUS"
I grew up in a world where money and hygiene didn’t seem to matter; in fact, my ultimate worries were only about chasing happiness and building memories. I was seven years old living in a slum area, in a crowded neighborhood called “San Joaquin”. It was a claustrophobic scene of dilapidated houses stacked and clamped to each other like books in a library however without the pungent smell of landfill permeating the air. For outsiders, it feels like a living hell but for me, it was the land of dreams - the cornerstone of my passion. It was where I got my first dog, Dexie, and where I had THE epiphany that would eventually change my point of view in life, forever.
As the sun settles its warm orange hue, the breeze of summery nostalgia cased my whole body, caressing the memories of my humbling past. It is the same orange tint that bathes the sky of barangay San Joaquin. With the streets full of busy vendors and elated kids, I rushed my way out to fly my kite. On my way out, I was baffled when the ground started to rumble and a certain shadow cast along the horizon which made every single kid to gaze up. It seemed like the world stopped for a while. It was the airplane alongside our little community. I used to ignore them but this one was different, it gave me an insight of how it feels like to live. “Are all of them rich?” I asked my Dad, he replied with a smile saying, “Mommy always rides airplanes, do you think we’re rich?” he asked. Being blinded by the Gameboy I received on my 6th birthday, I told him “yes” but was it the Gameboy? Looking back now, I felt rich not because I owe a gadget but of genuine happiness. San Joaquin was my childhood where I created some of my fondest memory, where I never worried about money and where times like hardship feels like kites; they will never be one unless you release them. I wish I could go back to the exact seconds that airplane passes by San Joaquin. It thought two things in life, to cherish happiness and to always reach for the sky.
PM NOW FOR COMMISSIONS!
🎨
