Canned satire on display in RP capital
Canned satire on display in RP capital
By Angie Ramos
MANILA (Reuter): It is the most unusual supermarket in the
Philippines.
The Imelda Marcos brand of condensed milk, made by the
National Amnesia Corp., lies near a stack of beer cans whose
label says they are filled with the best of Filipina domestic
helpers.
There is also McCoy brand canned meat enriched with "bribes,
commissions, and kickbacks" bearing the image of no less than the
former president Ferdinand Marcos.
They are among the 2,000 items on display at the Hiraya art
gallery in Manila where a grocery theme dominates an exhibition
entitled The Filipino Can.
Designed as a prelude to the centennial celebration in 1998 of
the country's revolt against colonial Spanish rule, the display
is a powerful visual summary of the country's current crop of
problems.
These range from the rehabilitation of Marcos' widow, Imelda,
who fled the country in disgrace 10 years ago but is now a member
of Congress, to the continuing exodus of Filipino workers
overseas.
"This will be an occasion where people would find time to
reflect on what has gone wrong with our country after 100 years
of Philippine revolution and 50 years of independence," gallery
curator Bobi Valenzuela told Reuters.
Valenzuela, together with the gallery's resident artists,
thought that the grocery concept was appropriate for the message
the artists wanted to convey.
It is certainly appropriate with shopping threatening to
become a national sport in the airconditioned malls proliferating
all over the capital as the economy recovers.
"When you shop in a supermarket, you choose very carefully the
products you are going to buy ... When you touch the works, when
you look at the works here, each can here, hopefully you might
ask the question - what has this character contributed to this
nation?" Valenzuela said.
On the top shelf are cans labeled with the image of former
President Corazon Aquino's "spilled milk", which is said to
represent a loss of spirit since the 1986 "people's power
revolution".
They sit side by side with Imelda Marcos's "the true, the
good, and the beautiful milk" enriched with "70 Swiss bank
accounts, 700 gold bars and, of course, 3,000 pairs of secret
ingredients" -- a reference to the ill-gotten wealth Mrs. Marcos
denies that she still has stashed away.
"I chose milk because all these characters are milking our
society dry," said artist Dindo Llana who spent about 10 hours
doing the computerized graphics and coloring of the cans.
Then there is "Pure Frauds" canned meat, a reference to
government corruption and a play on the name of a well-known
local food brand, "Purefoods".
A can of "Spasm" says it contains only the best of Filipinos'
obsession with cheap and shallow entertainment.
Other artists criticize the country's media which, they said,
enjoyed reporting showbiz scandals more than economic issues.
Current President Fidel Ramos doesn't escape either. He is
pictured endorsing the country's best "products" -- women who are
hard-working and sexy.
There are about 4.2 million Filipinos working overseas, many
employed either as household servants or in Japan's entertainment
industry, often a front for prostitution.
The grocery also has a row of imported products like the
"Agent Orange Juice Regular", labeled as the "Refreshing Amazing
Gook Terminator" or its diet version tagged as the "Amazing Self-
Detonator".
"This is like the supermarket of feeling, of pain, of joy, of
all different kinds of feelings you can imagine, and it takes
time to digest," said German artist Bernd Gerlach who attended a
recent preview of the show.