The emotional landscape of travelers

WHEN he was studying in Germany in 1886, Philippine national hero Jose Rizal wrote a poem titled “To the Flowers of Heidelberg.” Since then, many Filipinos have experienced the same melancholy of missing one’s homeland — a distinct sense of transience that only migrants pursuing a life outside of their home know.

From moving between provinces to settling in distant parts of the world, Filipinos leave home in pursuit of opportunity and discovery. To highlight the meaningful contributions of migrants in Philippine art, the Lopez Group Foundation, Inc., has once again partnered with the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage in Iloilo to present an exhibition of works by renowned Filipino diaspora artists.

Running until May 8, Sown by the Traveler: Women and Migrants in Philippine Art tells stories of the Filipino people through the shared experience of migration. The paintings on display — by Macario Vitalis, Alfonso Ossorio, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Nena Saguil, Fernando Zobel, and Juvenal Sansó — all come from the Lopez Museum and Library collection.

“The title evokes the desire of Filipinos to fill the world with the imagination of homeland. This wistful vision of a common world is sourced from the gifts of nature, like flowers which know no borders and can bring faraway places together,” said exhibit curator Patrick Flores in a video message.

He added that the artists were all shaped by the considerable time they each spent in various countries: Zobel in Spain; Ossorio in the US; Vitalis, Sansó, and Saguil in France; and Magsaysay-Ho in the US and Hong Kong.

Last year, the Lopez Foundation and the museum in UPV mounted The Patrimony of All: Paintings from the Lopez Museum and Library Collection, featuring the paintings of Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Fernando Amorsolo, and Juan Arellano.

For Mr. Flores, this second exhibition born from that institutional partnership provides a different perspective from the first.

“It overcomes the exalted patriarchy of Philippine artistry as well as the confines of the nation,” he said.

There are two to three paintings by each artist on display, giving ample opportunity for visitors to chart both shared and varying styles and sensibilities among the six artists.

Lopez Museum director Mercedes Lopez-Vargas said at the vernissage on Jan. 23 that they aim to “honor Iloilo as a vital part of the [Lopez] family’s roots.”

“Like the Dinagyang Festival, this exhibition is not just a cultural event, but also a commemoration, an expression of the Lopez family’s enduring spirit of giving back to the community that has shaped our history,” she said. “By bringing the museum’s collections to Iloilo, the family affirms its belief that heritage is a shared legacy by all.”

The UP Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage is in the UP campus in Iloilo City. Its mission is to be a center of art and culture in Western Visayas while also welcoming visitors from all over the Philippines, according to Martin G. Genodepa, director of UPV’s office of initiatives for culture and the arts.

Meanwhile, the Lopez Museum and Library hopes to help Filipinos uncover connections that foster deeper understanding and empathy through its Filipiniana collection, which comprises artworks, books, manuscripts, and artifacts that span from the pre-colonial era to the present.

Sown by the Traveler: Women and Migrants in Philippine Art runs until May 8 at the UP Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage in Iloilo City. — Brontë H. Lacsamana