Salvahe, 2015

Hong Kong 2018
Salvahe

Silverlens

Installation
wall installation with Catholic liturgical cape, fabric, beeswax and T5 lighting
195.6 x 298.4 (cm)
77.0 x 117.5 (inch)
Salvahe suggests how Filipinos attempted to undermine the power of an established order during the Spanish period. It is also indicative of how Filipinos tried to subvert their forced conversion to Christianity. The ecclesiastical cape is used in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and other Catholic rituals. The vestments made up of expensive materials and embellished with religious symbols are like armors that resemble foreign authority. The vestment, considered as found object in this work, is hand-embroidered with Philippine millenarian symbols and vandalized with words which the colonizers used to address the natives, like tulisan (bandit) and salvahe (barbaric).