Eyeing to “celebrate the glitter of every Filipino”, Kayumanggi Glitter – considered a “multimedia art egg-xhibition” – is scheduled to take place on August 28 to 31 in Pasig City Museum, Plaza Rizal, F. Concepcion, San Jose, Pasig City, Metro Manila.
According to the person helming Kayumanggi Glitter, Duncan De Guzman, an AB Multimedia Arts graduating student of Asia Pacific College, the words ‘kayumanggi’ and ‘glitter’ have their own definition, “but having them together creates another meaning.”
Kayumanggi (cayomangi – brown in Tagalog) is said to represent the Filipino people; while the word “glitter” as used nowadays in pop culture refers to anything gay, “like rainbows, fairies, unicorns, mermaids, anything shiny, colorful and fun”.
As such, “Kayumanggi Glitter is a project to celebrate the glitter of every Filipino, gay or not. It aims to remind us that amidst our diverse gender and sexuality, we are all the same. Like the eggs, we are all made up of the same yolk, just in different egg shells,” De Guzman said.
Kayumanggi Glitter will open on August 28, at 7:00PM. Performance art with audience participation will be the highlight of the evening event. The performance art will continue on August 29 from 10:00AM to 5:30PM.
Also as part of Kayumanggi Glitter, there will be a symposium on August 30 from 12:00 NN to 5:30 PM, allowing guests to meet the artists; as well as talk with LGBTQ personalities. The symposium will be an open mic event, “and will therefore be an opportunity for everyone to freely express themselves,” De Guzman said.
On the last day, August 31, from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM, there will be workshops on painting and basic theater acting. Select films will also be screened.
“History has always been presented through dominant ideologies. This multimedia project would like to introduce a different point of view coming from a minority. Kayumanggi Glitter believes that our ancestors didn’t discriminate with regard to gender and sexuality. It may be possible that there have been a gay datu, or a transgender babaylan. It may be possible that there were gay Katipuneros who fought for freedom. It may be possible that there were lesbian Filipinas who bravely served the country with a bolo. Their voices may have been muted in the line of oral history. Sadly, our history books are filtered to only venture on a one-sided story, or a lacking narrative fitted in one paragraph. Our history is filled with gossips, rumors, and speculations of what could have happened, of what could have been the reality amidst the myths. This project, through mixed media sculptures and paintings, video installations and performance art, may show Filipinos that could have existed in our history.Kayumanggi Glitter hopes to ignite a sense of nationhood, a sense of history in every individual. Hopefully every Filipino would be proud to freely express who they really are and fight for what they believe in, creatively,” De Guzman ended.
For more information on Kayumanggi Glitter’s multimedia egg-xhibition, visit www.facebook.com/kayumanggiglitter.
