Emmanuel Garibay

BIOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Garibay is a Filipino artist born in Kidapawan, North Cotabato, Philippines in 1962. He is known as much for his expressionist figurative style as for his keen social and political consciousness expressed in his works. He holds a Sociology and Fine Arts degree both from the University of the Philippines as well as a Master of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary in Cavite, Philippines. His experiences and studies coalesce in his works which show a stunning combination of social realism and avant-garde figurative expression, seriousness and humor, sharp social critique and humane character depiction. What is achieved through his carefully crafted work is an effective storytelling of people in scenes of social, political, and religious complexity.

A prolific and internationally established painter, his work as organizer is an often overlooked but constant passion even when he was still a student. He has headed various art and cultural organizations ever since, spearheading art projects with advocacies such as Tutok Karapatan (artists for human rights, 2006-2008), Kritikal Katoliko (art festival tackling Religion’s impact on Philippine society, Quezon City, 2008), Project Bakawan (campus-wide Environmental Arts Festival, University of the Philippines- Diliman, 2013-2015), and the Paghilom Arts Festival 1-3 (Regional Arts Festival, Cavite, 2016-2020) among others. He is currently chairman of Artletics Foundation, a non-stock, non-profit organization that empowers young artists to transform communities through art education. Garibay believes that art can be an effective medium for awakening consciousness which can empower people to bring about empowered change.

ABSTRACT

Emmanuel Garibay (Philippines), “Freedom through Authenticity”

Through a series of dialogues, we’ll talk about different perspectives about liberation and tackle the most insidious kind of control we have today – the capitalist system. The Capitalist world market’s main aim is to control human behavior, and they have succeeded in controlling most of the world’s population through designing a consumerist or market-oriented way of life. For us, liberation is being able to extricate oneself from such controls.

What we do in Linangan Art Residency, is we study art to analyze various power relationships throughout history as espoused by various ideologies / theologies. Art history is a useful tool to understand these dynamics because art provides concrete and experiential expression of ideas. Through the sponsorship of art by institutes of power, they were able to entrench and fortify cultural ideologies that legitimize them.

An analytical study of history through art is liberating because it allows us to establish a deeper grounding in foundational ideas and catalyzing art movements throughout our history. This takes us one step closer to figuring out how to take on the task of liberation in a post-truth era characterized by the diminishment of beliefs and the almost unchallenged hegemony of the capitalist world order.

In the course of the discussions, significant Philosophers and other enlightened thinkers from different milieus, will be highlighted to cite key perspectives on the role of ideas in shaping and maintaining the power dynamics in society.