princess lea, microwavables, at ilang patak
Caasi was fascinated with the character of Princess Leia Organa of the Star Wars which inspired the Tagalized version, Princess Lea. He believes that Princess Leia has more things in common with Filipinas than we can imagine. Her selflessness and determination, her patriotism is the same traits that our very own Filipina revolutionaries such as Gabriela Silang and Melchora Aquino possessed. These women who fought for freedom and justice fearlessly were fierce in battle, but gentle and thoughtful to comrades and their people. They knew their rights and struggled for it; they were strong yet compassionate, driven yet tender, confident but modest, independent but not detached, open-minded but not vulgar. They fought a man’s fight but is always a woman at heart.
"Princess Lea," the painting, is done in orange, crowned with gold, which stand for wisdom and beauty. It is surrounded by blue which stand for a veil, a connotation of the stereotyped Filipina, weak and submissive. The blue, fading into the background is the traditional giving way to the more vibrant orange, the new Filipina.
Today, Filipinas face new battles, more complex roles and responsibilities. It is still a man’s world but her new awareness of self has given her more power to persevere. She has evolved: she can be anything she wants to be; a mother, a wife, an architect, a pilot, a driver, a doctor, an engineer, and more. She can do anything she sets her heart into; she can have a family or profession, or both. She can vote or even have herself elected. Her world has opened up and enabled her to explore different opportunities of growth as a human being. She has found her voice, her freedom and herself. Slowly but surely, she has regained her rightful place in the society: the partner and equal of man
Microwavables (microwaveable plastic containing sample ballots). Recycling and reusing are the keywords of Philippine elections. The constitution prohibits local candidates to run for a fourth consecutive term. However, our clever politicians have discovered safe and incredible ways of keeping their authority without joining the elections themselves.
The most common practice is the fielding of dummies that can hold the position until the incumbent can run again. These proxy candidates are usually their respective wives, children or even mistresses and members of their extended family. Another trick is the swapping of positions with one another, the mayor runs for congress, the congressman runs for provincial board, the board member runs for governor. Other officials push for the reclassification or division of their municipalities and provinces into cities and districts, or the creation of new towns and provinces during their incumbency to allow them to run for their second first term in the new constituency. In the end, they maintain their dominion,
Assemblage, 4 ft. x 4 ft.
Mixed Media on Canvas,
4 ft. x 7 ft.
In other cases, recycling would be healthy and environment friendly. But politicians, in their pursuit to preserve their power and influence have achieved the opposite effect at the expense of their constituents. They have become like microwaveable containers: plastic, and reusable; the difference is that these containers remain safe despite constant reheating while our scheming officials’ reelections renders them toxic to the public.
Ilang Patak pays tribute to the planet’s most important resource, Water. Caasi used gold droplets to emphasize the element’s usefulness, to show that water is more precious than gold. It is the major component of our bodies. It holds the land of our homes. It nourishes us. We can not live without water though sometimes it seems that that we have existed just to exploit it.
Today we are facing the consequences of water's rampant waste and pollution. We have taken water for granted and massively misjudged the earth's water systems’ capacity to recover. Water scarcity may become irreversible in the next few years. It may result to tragedies we can never imagine: deaths, famine and even armed conflicts. It can result to man’s end.
Little drops of water, little drops of sand. Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land, says one nursery rhyme. How ironic that we only remember how essential water is when we are down to the last few drops.