22/07/2024
I am in the middle of creating another shadowplay project, and here I am drafting this post/note/u-thought(brainfArt).
There is a universe in each project of shadowplay or puppetry, or theater, or performance. And in every universe, I find myself starting as if reincarnated from my past self, still and always a shadowsmith. Yes, I smith shadows, and alongside the shadows, we craft the pathways of light. In a funny way, we work with the light and the shade, but we are not the blend of it as is in the chiaroscuro. We create it in black & white or the positive & the negative to let the images stand out. It's hard to "see" shadow puppets if our eyes are quite new to the medium. And it's our responsibility as the duwendes who forge with a meager set of smith tools to accentuate details and silhouettes so as to trick the eyes and the brain to make an image recognizable. In every universe, the image, the formation, the visual language, the anatomy of shadows differ, or in other words, "are unique from one another." (yes, sometimes, we let one tree or clouds or flora and fauna to cross multiple universes, but I guess some find it negligible -- they accept it as part of this unique universe unfolding before them. I guess that's where a certain style of expression becomes forgivable.)
It is in these times that i summon in the ancient PDFs I had as a delinquent pupil the musings of Elinor Fuchs for dramaturgy. As a bad student, I remember it as the visit to the small planet or something along those lines LOL. Sometimes, I confess committing a mortal sin of not fully understanding the very universe I created in each project. Most of the time, the universe exists to serve a shared vision, and the shadowplay cosmos I bring along is there to co-exist with the other universes meeting together for that vision.
As I work on this new venture, I am reincarnated with a clear vision of the "past lives" I had as a duwende smithing shadow elements for different projects. I am filled with gratitude. I am humbled each time, for every project is a moment to confront the self to unlearn & learn again.
The beginnings in 2012 were vast -- I tried as much style and approach as I could. Constant collaborations with ma'am Ami, Don, and ma'am Jose helped me find new ways to create.
Pagong at Tsonggo, Creation Stories, Paghuhukom, Bread of Salt, Hibla ng Langit, and many more projects with Teatrong Mulat always pushed me to think of more responsible ways to create and design processes of engaging a team. This will always be a riddle to me, as I enjoy working alone. I sometimes think this can be both a curse and a blessing. Ma'am Ami has always been a gentle mentor. She will find ways to care and to teach at the same time.
Mulat brought me to places, but most importantly, Mulat will always be home.
Umaaraw, Umuulan, Kinakasal ang Tikbalang and Adarna (UP Playwright's Theater/DUP), were important projects that sharpened my young shadow puppeteer self. Those productions nurtured my soul as a puppeteer and as a designer. Don was always a clever & playful master. Ma'am Jose embraced challenges in those playful but challenging collaborations.
Years later, Museo Pambata Shadowlab Saturdays offered a different approach as I was creating shadowplay pieces that can be performed by myself alone. Contrary to the roots of my reading materials in kuya Laya's writings, the shadowplay I developed in those years were divorced of a certain jam -- something that Anino Shadowplay Collective cherishes in their processes and performances. It was extra challenging, and the only help I had was a precious one from the Kasintahan who had to learn how to cut shadow puppets to help ease my anxieties, my worries, but of course, because she also has those creative hands.
In my latest work with Museo Pambata, I decided to finally have Andie join me puppeteer the story of the Minokawa. She continued to lend a helping hand in some other projects, and the most important one was when I mounted a solo lab-work, MINIKANIKO, where she showcased her own genius in crafting. MINIKANIKO remained to be prototype, and I hope I can muster the courage and drive once again to continue developing this project.
I had failed ventures, I admit, and those taught me lessons in time management, and the appreciation for process. Sometimes, I can't help but wish I was wiser back then. I realized that embarrassment can also help you grow as a professional, and as human being. I honestly thought, however, of quitting, of seeing shadowplay as another point to fight myself and weigh my soul down. But lo and behold the pandemic led me to an introspective communion with this line of craft. I started to incorporate stop motion animation techniques. Kwentong Bata (Dulaang Sipat Lawin, PHSA) was the first test for this new approach to stop motion. This introduced new ways to present shadowplay. Through Adrienne's words, notes, and challenges, we opened a new pathway of possibilities in shadowplay. With her strong sense of rhythm and pulse, Adrienne has since become the editor of the raw shadowplay stop motion footages we created during the height of the pandemic. I now have a repertoire of shadowplay projects with me as documentation and archiving became 2nd nature. Most of them were also teeming with advocacy and solidarity to social movements. We worked with Johnoy Danao's Sa Gobyernong Tapat, Angat Buhay Lahat during the 2022 elections. We showed solidarity during the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law as our shadowplay was the background video for Batas Militar song. Until now, Adrienne has been very generous with her time and support in my shadowplay projects both as co-shadowsmith and editor.
In the years to come, TINIG 2023 (Traslacion 2023) helped me see that shadowplay can have a thread-like quality for performances, wherein the approach was more of dramaturgical, rather than design and theatrical device. On the contrary, Dark Room, a cue I developed for Education (in your language) at the Tokyo Farm-lab Exhibition 2022, created a unique moment in our almost systematic and robot-like movement. It really stood out as a moment.
Prinsipe Bahaghari was a topnotch marriage of the handmade and the digital. Aina and Steven were instrumental for me to see that. It was a pleasure learning from younger and full of spirit collaborators.
The Manila Coffee Festival 2024 was a special moment to meet numerous enthusiasts of coffee and arts. Through this 3-day festival, I saw how much bond shadowplay holds to create connections.
Into the Shadows are Heroes at the Boni Viva Luci festival last April was another point of great revelation where Public Art presented itself as a potent and resonant point of connection to many people. I was reunited with one of my best pals in Theater, Joyce, as she mapped the 7 projections created meticulously for this engagement. The sleepless days of sketching, shadowsmithing, shooting, and mapping were all worth it as we were inspired and excited for more, thanks to the rewarding engagement the audience did to enrich the work.
Puting Gunaw (Mulat), Ang Mga Kwento Natin (Guang Ming College), Uyayi ng Ulan (Entablado), and Mas Mabigat Ang Liwanag sa Kalungkutan (UP Repertory) allowed us to create puppets and shadowplay that are portable, handheld, and perhaps lightweight. These projects made the ensemble more engaged in learning different types of performance devices. They appeared like weavers of light (in a poetic sense... he-he!)
There were also shadowplay workshops every once in a while. Like mushrooms, it just appeared out of nowhere, and they have always been pleasant surprises, as it pushed me to develop modules on how to share the craft and practice. Through these workshops, I met participants who also taught me in significant ways. These were the moments when I realized that teaching will always be rewarding.
In the middle of this productivity, I also managed to sneak in a very timely conversation with kuya Laya about shadowplay. It was indeed a very timely catch up as it also helped me process the years of practice I already have in this field.
Then of course, the big leap: the first solo-exhibition at Anima Art Space. The much anticipated opening and month-long run concocted a feeling of a special kind of anxiety. It was a mix of anticipation, stress, and excitement, that I honestly don't know how to place. In this certain mix, I felt an addictive drive to create more and more. My spirit itched for more. In the complexity of meticulous papercutting, I learned to trust the almost twelve years worth of shadowplay praxis. It was a journey worth celebrating as Everyentangledays facilitated a creation procedure that was more instinctive and spontaneous. The lines, the strokes, the shapes, the texture, were deliberately guided by gut-feel, and these hands that scribbled the expressions of everyday entanglements. In this project, more than entrapment, there was an emancipation. And the feeling remains strong until now -- even while I am in the middle of crafting! In its nearing closure, I have yet to discover if those pieces will make it to new homes that may resonate with the themes of the exhibit. I know this was a significant move, and I hope new doors may open in the days, weeks, months, years, and hopefully decades to come.
There were other projects that were also important but remained unmentioned in this writing. I signed NDA's, so that's just about it. hehe
In each project, I always feel like starting fresh, but with a soul I carry that has had lifetimes of creation. If this is a cycle, let me not be trapped in a Sisyphean curse; instead, let me be in a Samsara of learning.
Idk, maybe a lot of it is still hiwaga work. I dared declare myself as a duwende. I love working with my hands to create. and in the next cycles I am still left with, I hope my hands may still be instrumental to the creation of more.
July 23, 2024
3:42 AM
-Siglo
