Fallen heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic are at the center of an online animated museum that is part of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Center for Campus Art’s ongoing digital art exhibition.
Hall of Heroes is Benjamin Marasigan Jr.’s contribution to the online art exhibit To Differ, Digitally 2 (TDD2): Love and Dissent in the Time of Pandemic. The Center for Campus Art (CCA) led by Architect Gerry Torres and the New Media Cluster headed by associate dean Maria Sharon Mapa Arriola called on faculty members for “works in digital media that will venture to engage with and generate new content from its audiences online.”
Marasigan, founding chairman and full-time instructor of the DLS-CSB School of Design and Arts Animation Program, is among 17 artist-educators and industry practitioners who heeded the call. Curator Karen Ocampo-Flores describes TDD2 as “a fresh opportunity to deliver messages of social commentary through the digital medium” and “a timely response to conditions wrought by the present scourge of the Covid-19 virus.” This is only the second time the CCA collaborated with NMC as a group after launching its physical exhibit To Differ, Digitally: Calls for Change Through New Media in 2017.
“The themes that have emerged deliver a viable spectrum of perspectives and concerns arising from the pandemic. One realm would be about connecting place and passage. At the herald of such works is a memorial for the fallen heroes, mostly medical practitioners who fought the mostly unknown effects of the SARS-Covid virus. The museum conceived as a monument by Benjie Marasigan Jr. presents to us the necessity to both grieve and never forget those who perished so that others may live,” Flores explained in the exhibit brief found at CCA’s web site (bit.ly/3HDC4wq).
Aside from being a tribute to frontliners and the fallen heroes of the pandemic, Marasigan’s digital creations also serve as his reaction to the government’s response, amid volunteerism and bayanihan efforts.
“As I was watching the news about the deaths and difficulties faced by the frontline health workers, I felt helpless, frightened, sad and guilty—guilty of not being able to help because I couldn’t get out of the house. I tried to think of ways to best contribute to the effort against Covid-19, given the limitations of the situation,” said Marasigan, who has been teaching in Benilde for 20 years now.
“Since the start of the pandemic up to the present, I have tried to document what was happening in our country through my digital illustration and paintings.”
More information can be viewed at youtu.be/qm21uNkLTjg.