Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

In Handum, Mark Justiniani creates his own version of “remembrance of things past.” Between origin and destination, a boy in a red shirt sails in his paper boat as a nude figure — in a glowing shade of blue — curls and hovers above him like a heavenly body. While dark and foreboding, the atmosphere is redolent with a sense of adventure and bravery. As “handum” is a Cebuano word that means “reminisce,” the scene in the painting suggests a looking back at the past, with childhood as particularly poignant for having both the guidance of elders as well as the desire of doing things on one’s own. This work by Justiniani resonates with the clamor of the inner child.