Florentino "Jun" Impas Solo Exhibit "Tribu" at ManilaART 2022

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My maternal grandparents were from Mainit, Alipao, Alegria, Surigao del Norte. 

In the 1930’s, the families of Odtojan, Baluran, Labaso, Senturias, Rubilla and Seroy emerged simultaneously and inhabited the place. Because they were bound by faith and the common vision for a better tomorrow, these families started to cultivate the area of Candiis that had a total land area of not more than 300 hectares. 

The first Teniente del Barrio was Alvaro Odtojan Senturias Sr. who served until the end of the World War II. One of the succeeding Teniente del Barrio was my late aunt Pacensia "Pacing" Odtojan Beniga (Lesoy).

Before the war, my grandfather Eugenio Anino Beniga (son of Pantaleon Beniga), a surveyor from Sevilla, Bohol went to Surigao, met and married a pious local beauty, Felina Caerlang Odtojan. They were simple rice farmers who owned and tilled 25 hectares of land in that area. 

During my childhood days in the 70's, my fond memories of my visits there were riding the carabao through vast rice fields, singing Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art in tears during church services, attending Sunday school, eating the pijanga (freshwater fish from lake Mainit) and meeting Mamanwa people who were also known as Conking.

The Mamanwa is a nomadic negrito tribe who were the original settlers of the area. They had distinct features exhibiting curly hair and much darker skin tones.

Living in Surigao in his younger days, these scenes would have imprinted on the mind and inspired Jun Impas, a renowned and multi-awarded realist and portrait visual artist from Cebu, to capture the indigenous people in his art.

"Capturing Philippine culture is what inspires me the most, particularly painting the ordinary life of indigenous people (IP). While many of the Filipinos now live in the modern world, I want to seize the opportunity to document the defining societal norms of the IPs, based on my observations living in Surigao during my younger years", he says

"My works revolve around human figures, significant cultural events and quintessential Filipino scenes. I started my art journey by observing the world around me at a young age and was mostly self-taught. I enjoy painting ordinary scenes of day-to-day life. I believe in the beauty of the ordinary. The most touching and telling of any story is better felt when captured in infinite duration as in a realism painting,"

With about 14 to 17 million IPs belonging to 110 ethnolinguistic groups, Impas plans to paint as many tribes as he can during his lifetime to showcase the cultural diversity of the minorities. According to him, they hold a significant sense of tradition and biodiversity which should be promoted and protected, as they hold a vital ancestral knowledge that is also important to the identity of the Filipinos. They have helped pave the way to where we are now.

  

Catch his solo show "Tribu" (Tribe) on October 19-23 at ManilART 2022 Forging Futures, where he focuses on expressing through his art, as accurately as possible, the culture, customs and livelihood of the Manobo.

 


 


 


                                                                                                              Jun Impas, Manila Times

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