“Ang Laagang Bata (The Wandering Child): The Sto Niño and the Filipino’s Journey of Faith”
Jazzing up the Niño
By Radel Paredes (CrossHatching)
Cebu Daily News First Posted 14:28:00 11/07/2010
Religious images are often used in art as symbols of an oppressive and intolerant Church. It is now almost a requirement for art filmmakers to insert a shot or two of religious icons, exploiting their rigidity and cold countenance to suggest the futility of faith.
But a closer look at the history of religious art would show how its prevalence today proved the triumph of art over the iconoclastic reaction, which looked at religious imagery as vestige of pagan culture.
If the iconoclasts had their way, humanity would have been deprived of the Medieval art of the illuminated manuscripts, which also flourished in the Islamic, Judaistic, and even Hindu cultures. There would have been no Renaissance or Baroque periods, predominantly religious styles that re-embraced, like a prodigal son, the pagan naturalism of ancient Greek and Roman traditions.
In fact, such openness is also seen in much religious art that evolved from folk traditions. The history of each religious icon proves this. One should only look at the history of the Marian iconography and that of the Child Jesus to see how the Church actually allowed local color to come into play in the evolution of each icon.
From the original garb of a European military officer, the Sto. Niño has taken on different vestments in Philippine iconography, ranging from the regal folk-Baroque to pop versions that border on the naughty.
Filipino Catholics are amused by the image of the Child Jesus dressed as a policeman, basketball player, fisherman, carpenter, etc. It seems that people coming from different sectors felt less inhibited to portray their patron as one of them. He is a child, after all, and is therefore expected to be gentle and less strict.
The Sto Niño symbolizes diversity—cultural or even racial. Ours in Cebu is a dark, curly haired, and poker faced dwarf wearing an oversized and heavily ornamented cape while those in Tondo and Malolos are taller, white, and beam with a slight smile.
My antique collector friend Ben Chua owns a Sto. Niño de Chino dressed in royal Chinese costume. Other popular representations include the Child God sleeping, dancing, playing, or—alluding to the lost boy in the Bible—loitering (Palaboy Sto. Niño).
There’s even a naked Sto. Niño, which hints of our fond acceptance of the boy Jesus’ humanity and innocence. This is also reflected in the local ritual of the “Hubo” (Undress) or the changing of the Sto. Nino’s costume.
This strange mix of piety and playfulness and how the Sto. Niño came to represent the circuitous path our nation has negotiated through colonialism is the theme behind “Ang Laagang Bata (The Wandering Child): The Sto Niño and the Filipino’s Journey of Faith,” a collaborative installation currently being made by Filipino-German sculptor Franz Herbich and a group of selected Cebuano artists for the 1st International Visayas Biennale, a major art event Cebu will be hosting this year in November 15-19.
This idea is for the selected artists to dress up or embellish each of the 100 white resin casts of the Sto. Niño made by Franz Herbich, whose family owns a big sculpture foundry in Liloan town. The finished work, which we hope will show the different ways the artists try to update the Sto. Niño iconography, will be installed in Museo Sugbu in a parade position that would bring to mind Ancient China’s famous Terracotta Army.
In keeping with the inherent paradoxes in the Sto. Niño iconography, the works are expected to reflect the tensions between East and West, local and global, tradition and novelty, as well as the contrasting archetypes of the Heavenly Father and the occasionally misbehaving child.
Save for an artist-priest who has been known for his own reinterpretations of traditional Christian imagery, the artists taking part in this project come from different religious background—or the lack of it.
But given the history of openness to diversity in the iconography, I don’t think the artists would go as far as to make the Niño wear a placard that says “Damaso!” On the other hand, why not?
Labels: The Wandering Child
posted by jason k. dy, sj at 10:26 PM
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