The Balikbayan Artist
, by Tabios, Eileen R. R.- ISBN: 9789815233049 | 9815233041
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 12/1/2024
A tale of the artist’ s role in troubled times set amid a dictatorship
Farm-laborer-turned-artist Vance Igorta returns to the Philippines as a balikbayan after nearly fifty years in the United States. He is a member of the Manong generation, the largest diaspora of Filipinos who worked physically demanding jobs, mostly in California’ s agricultural fields.
The Balikbayan Artist— inspired by and dedicated to Venancio C. Igarta (1912– 2000), the real-life leading artist of the Manong Generation— takes readers from the early twentieth century to the present day when Vance Igorta’ s art is being discovered anew.
Igorta’ s legacy is validated for allowing his art to address the tensions of his time instead of keeping it solely entrenched in aesthetic concerns. The artist’ s choice
reflects what he learned as a voraciously self-educated person: that in circumstances where power corrupts, what makes anyone and everyone dangerous is love.