Group Exhibition

Mariit | The Mystical Habitat

Modeka Art is proud to present a group exhibition curated by JT Gonzales and featuring Darel Javier, Jay-r Delleva and Lean Reboja, launching October 23, 2021.

The local residents know it when they see it – “mariit”. A mysterious, supernatural spot evoking such reactions as diverse as caution, nervy laughter, and yes, even fear.

There appears to be no categorical definition for these chills-provoking locales. It’s a Visayan term frequently uttered, with reverence, in the environs of Negros and Panay. The belief is, these spots host enchanted beings, dwellers that reside in forests, solitary ancient trees, or even simple soil, and it would be well to give these areas a wide berth. If at all, entry must be made gently within their midst, on the alert for fear of offending the inhabitants.

Rooted in these mysterious zones is the belief that we co-inhabit this world with other beings. We share their space, although perhaps they transition in and out from alternative planes of existence. Sometimes, we encroach on their hunting grounds or desecrate their sacred temples. How would they react if they meet us? And more to the point, what would it look like if artists residing in this world were to interpret our astral neighbors?

Darel Javier seems to have entertained portrait commissions from the local mariit residents of Bacolod. Depicting them in almost photographic headshots, Javier’s subjects manifest their varied forms simultaneously from different levels of reality. Pig’s ears, kraken tentacles and zebra horns adorn his models, and various parasitic (dare we say, symbiotic?) humans decorate their visages.

‘Burikata’ and ‘Flashback’ are particularly complex examples, leading one to wonder whether the faerie race simply cannot sit still while posing. Is Javier paying them homage – or is he poking dangerous fun at them?

Jay-r Delleva takes on a more traditional, luminous approach to depicting his native mariit locals, focusing mostly on kapwes (or the kapre, as labeled in the Manila vernacular). A fairy damsel with a starfish umbrella looms large over a pastoral landscape in his ‘Ms. Kapwe with Parasol”. In ‘Open Season”, in a bucolic field somewhere in sugarlandia, a gigantic yet adorable critter has snagged a dirigible engulfed in flames. Delleva’s ‘Kapwe in Plain Sight’ is a feminized balete tree, adorned with delicate petals and numerous ghostly pixie acolytes.

From the hinterlands of Cebu, Lean Reboja magicks the denizens of his imagination into existence, unleashing a curnocopia of kaleidoscopic critters crammed into ever-narrowing expanses – much like how civilization has encroached on the territories of the shape shifters in the name of ever-unsustainable development. Some are benign, others may be more malevolent. Each one, however, has been vested by Reboja with loving, fascinating detail.

‘A Glorious Get Together’ is an august gathering of gods and monsters, while ‘Boss Fight’ is a free-for-all scrimmage. In turn, Reboja’s yati sculptures are emblematic of the citizens of his alternate universe, albeit from the less menacing and more kawaii variants.

We wander and weave in and out of their supernatural quarters, catching only glimpses if we are lucky. Do they flicker into existence only because of our imaginations, or do they really still because of our imaginations, or do they really still haunt their old patches?

As it has always been, mariit speaks of danger, so beware of further inquiry.

Words by JT Gonzales

“Mariit | The Mystical Habitat” is on view from October 23, 2021. 

To book a private viewing or to request for the digital catalogue, use the forms below or contact us at info@modeka.space or (+63) 956 174 9185.