The Christmas season should be a happy time, but not every one shares the same excitement and joy that most people feel during this festive month.
In a world where technology dictates how most should go about their everyday lives, personal intimacy, bonding with family and even mere conversations over coffee have become quite a rarity.
A thematic exhibit presented by The Julia Buencamino Project, titled Will You Still Love Me?, opened recently at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and its focus is on mental-health awareness.
For those who are not aware, Julia Buencamino is a young teenage artist who took her own life a few years back. Her artist-parents Nonie and Shamaine decided to put up The Julia Buencamino Project to spread awareness on suicide prevention, and the couple makes time to speak on campuses and they donate the “Julia Buencamino bench” to symbolize a safe place where people can sit, recharge and talk to others about anything that’s bothering them.
The event at the CCP will culminate in a Festival of Arts & Ideas on the weekend of December 8 and 9 where participants will be engaged in art-related activities that will deepen their understanding and appreciation of the many mental, emotional and psychological issues that are prevalent these days.
There will be live performances, poetry reading, forums, film screenings and workshops scattered in different venues of the CCP.
“Everyone is welcome,” enthused Shamaine, adding, “The more people we touch, the more we can disseminate information about mental-health issues, and the more we can understand each other. We have invited different facilitators who are specialists in their respective fields to share their expertise and mentor the participants.”
For those who love to dance, the festival offers a Movement Connection class, which is a dance healing session that aims to reconcile the internal thoughts through external movements. This will be facilitated by Christine Crame, and dance background is not a requirement.
Short films on mental conditions will be screened which will be followed by a forum facilitated by psychologist Dr. Maricar Paulino Fajardo. The participating films include Oh Aking Katoto, Jordan and Comfort Room with directors Kelvin Aguilar, Vic Acedillo Jr. and Leia Reyna Pasumbal sharing how art and films can help cope with depression.
A performance art program will also be one of the highlights of the festival. Underwater is a self-revelatory performance where Issa Manalo Lopez interrogates the roots of her mental disorder, and allows the audience to step in as witness. The creators are Issa, J Laspuna, Sheka Ong, Ina Azarcon-Bolivar and Kat Bonillo. Other ruminations is a biographical theater performance by Shamaine Buencamino in collaboration with Layeta Bucoy, Jose Estrella, Kare Adea and Gerald Mercado.
A special visual arts workshop, billed as Cultivating Attunement, Inner Composure and Resilience Through Arts, introduces some basic guides on how to be more mindful with one’s thoughts and emotions, offering a friendly attitude toward one’s experiences in life. It also provides some basic experiential exercises on cultivating inner composure and resilience that the participants may be able to apply in their day-to-day encounters.
The Buencamino couple will also take part in poetry reading session, and some friends will participate in dance interpretations choreographed by Gerald Mercado and Nonoy Froilan.
It will be a weekend of awareness and awakening, of bonding and brotherhood, of fun and newfound friendships. Love is the reason for the season and it should always overpower loneliness.
Let’s all have a Happy December.