Team Out of Town Blog Hub (Outoftownblog.com) – MANILA – To celebrate its 50th founding anniversary, the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) opened its first on-site exhibit since the pandemic at the IVC Teatro, Fort Santiago in Intramuros entitled “(Ka)loob(an)” on November 4, 2022.
The exhibit, which will run from November 4-18, 2022, featured a rich collection of ethnographic artifacts from various ethnolinguistic groups, from textiles, personal ornaments, ritual items, hunting and warfare, and domestic objects, which the Foundation has treasured and cared for in the last five decades.
According to NPF Executive Director Gertie Duran-Batocabe, the exhibit representing the NPF’s vast collection of more than 3,000 heritage pieces comes at a most auspicious time as we stand at the crossroads where old and historical facts struggle to be relevant amidst an ever-dynamic world.
“Today, our heritage faces a new kind of threat, this time not with guns, cannons or bolos but with unprecedented modernity and a generation born into the internet era, a time that is characterized by massive digital societal change,” she said.
The exhibit centers around the Filipino word, (ka)loob(an), which can be understood in myriad ways when broken down further. Loob, its root word, speaks of within. It is either the literal inner compartments of the Spanish calabozo or the figurative inner dimension of a person’s identity. Whereas the outside is cold, bleak, and monolithic, the inside is warm, colorful, and flowing. Looban is the interior; portion of the archipelago where the Western colonizers had a difficult time penetrating. History is a witness to how communities from the interior fought hard to preserve their society and culture. From this interior, hails the ethnographic collection of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation. Ultimately, Kaloob means bestowal, as this material culture are gift to our generation.
Therefore, it is, but, the goal of Nayong Pilipino Foundation to preserve and pass on this material culture of our Philippine communities to many generations to come.
NPF Executive Director Gertie Duran-Batocabe also stressed that it is time for the Filipino craftsman to tell his narrative.
“The founding…
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