ABOUT THE WORK

Good and evil, black or white, why are we always in the midst of opposites’ contradictions? Why is there almost no existence which doesn’t subsist through these contradictions? There are still ties that can hold together this fragile ethical universe. Don visualizes the multi-layered aspects of Filipino society and history through animation and paintings, where he explores the dualities of Filipino culture and tradition in contrast to modern society. Don’s art was recognizable and idiosyncratic, anchored in allegory—muted colors masking disappearing figures, people in old photographs arranged in imaginary landscapes that connected the folkloric to the contemporary, linking the historical to the banalities of the present. Salubayba also reflects on “culture,” and an aspect of this are the habits or customs that inevitably are made into instruments of identity. In Salubayba’s universe, “culture” mutates. They are not viewed as fully formed texts, but are seminal and germinal, the nucleus of a transforming, transformative discourse. His works are also characterized by child-like playfulness and curiosity, which explained his parallel life as a member of the Anino Shadowplay Collective, a family of interdisciplinary artists whose visionary works have negotiated with the world of light and shadows in performance spaces in Patras, Hanoi, Jakarta and Sydney.