BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
WHAT caught my attention during the 55th Charter Anniversary of Cadiz City on July 1-4 was the Cadiz – Sagay – Manapla (CaSaMa) painting competition.
It was district-wide (2nd Congressional District of Negros Occidental) hosted by the “City of Whales” (Cadiz City).
At first glance, ‘twas just an ordinary event. However, the very purpose of it was standout practicality.
Such, explained by Cadiz City’s Mayor Salvador “Bading” Escalante Jr., was a form of “healing” from the wrath of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
With the theme “Harvest” (patubas in Hiligaynon), the art challenge had two noblest intentions:
* Help (painting) artists in the district cope with the “fury” of COVID-19
* Highlight their local agri/fishery products that “saved them” at the height lockdowns /b order controls
What a brilliant concept, indeed!
Arts (of any form) and artists were among the direct and indirect “sufferers” of COVID-19.
Reading lots of articles on line, I can’t help but be anxious regarding the profound impact(s) of COVID-19 on the arts. Worse, some acclaimed artists even reached the point of putting their mental health in peril.
In China, officials realized how important arts and culture are in the well-being of their artists. Through mutually beneficial collaborations with different sectors, including arts and culture, they’ve surmounted even the “strangest” challenges.
‘ARTSY, GUTSY’
Mayor Bading stood tall as the only local chief executive in Negros for being “artsy” and “gutsy” in showing utmost consideration for their city’s artists. Amid the pandemic, this mayor thought of something “out of the box” for art-sake.
His love and passion for the arts, especially on painting, fueled his enormous desire to save their local artists from possible “mental derangement” due to COVID-19.
Not an easy job, of course! But Mayor Bading simply did it one step at a time.
First, he launched a city-wide painting contest in Cadiz during their 54th Charter Day last year. His rationale(s):
* Help the paint artists re-channel their energy-slash-frustration-slash- angst via painting
* Give the artists an avenue to showcase their crafts via a mall exhibit even at the height of COVID-19
* Help market their masterpieces via on line
The CaSaMa painting tilt followed next. And believe it or not, a total of 161 aspiring artists joined.
‘DREAMY RICE FIELDS’
Topping this latest artsy tilt was 22-year-old Earl Von Salcedo. His winning piece, “The Dreamy Rice Fields”, wowed the judges – Charlie Co, Hill Benitez, Tristam Miravalles, and Cezar Arro.
Personally scrutinizing Salcedo’s P40-K prized masterpiece, it is as if you’re journeying in a “fantasy land” of harvest galore.
But the “Panulo Isda/Sagyap” of 4th placer-Santiago Onatin and the “Bugana nga Hulik/Pangwa-on” of 5th placer Allen Descalsota also pleased my artistic taste.
Cadiz is certainly blessed with rich seascape and fertile plains and palisades.
The mayor’s fervent wish to highlight their farm and sea produce as “essentials” in the midst of health pandemic was eventually granted!
‘PIOUS INTENT’
Thinking always of the bountiful harvest by the land and by the sea for the sake of his constituents affected by the pandemic is a “pious intent” worthy of admiration.
It can be likened to what the Bible is saying (in Galatians 6:9): “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Thus, for just a simple thing called art, Mayor Bading basically drew an inspiration of healing the “wounds and scars” inflicted by COVID-19 both in the economics and health of his constituents.
Then, with the multitude of art pieces produced via painting, he deterred the mental health challenges among the artistic people in Cadiz.
More than that, with a mere painting competition, Mayor Bading triumphantly highlighted the quintessence of farming and fishing and their valuable produce even in the thick of digitalization complicated by the current health contagion.
Anyways, healing in a broader sense connotes achieving or acquiring wholeness of a person, explained world-renowned Swiss psychologist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
Thus, Mayor Bading’s “healing mission” meant for their artists and the Cadiznons in general, who are now “piqued” due to COVID-19, thru an art competition really speaks of an excellent tact beyond copycat./PN
