Welcome to the Museum of Naive Art [MoNA]! Happy Gabii sa Kabilin (GSK)/Heritage Night, GSK goers! As you probably already know, the theme of this year’s celebration is “Balangay” to give tribute to the pre-colonial roots of the Philippines. Balangays were used to transport entire clans from one island to another in the Visayan seas. A Bisaya variant of the Tagalog “barangay,” the term also describes communities bound together by kinship and communal ties.
For GSK 2018, the MoNa highlights the collection called FISH-to-Face. The balangays traveled on our pre-colonial seas and under the surface was a rich and diverse marine life. These were the same species of fish and corals that artist Paulina Constancia encountered on her diving trips in Bohol and Cebu in the 90’s.
It is imperative for us to protect our oceans, home to the families of fish that fed our ancestors, continue to feed us, and hopefully nourish generations to come…
Here is the promotional video for GSK 2018
Please refer to the GSK e-magazine for the complete listing and details of participating heritage sites for this year’s celebration.
Check out the common names of local Philippine fish
Read “David Suzuki: We Have to Stop Killing Our Oceans With Plastic”
Learn about the Philippines’ Tubbataha Reef on National Geographic
PAULINA CONSTANCIA MoNA 