TRAGEDY can sometimes lead to rebirth. In 2000 the then 28-year-old Maningning Miclat jumped to her death from the seventh floor of a building in Far Eastern University (FEU), where she worked as a professor.
The year after, her parents Mario and Alma, decided to launch the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation to honor their departed daughter, and to encourage young artists to explore all facets of their talents and come forward to showcase and share their art.
This Wednesday, September 26, the Maningning Miclat Art Awards will come home to the university where the late artist taught. Eighteen shortlisted entries from young artists around the Philippines have been on exhibit, The District Gallery and the FEU President’s Committee organizing the exhibit hall of the Nicanor Reyes Building of the university’s Manila campus.
One winner will be announced on Wednesday, and the artist will receive a trophy designed by sculptor Julie Lluch, a cash prize, and a chance to have his or her solo exhibit at The District Gallery in Quezon City. Art and poetry competitions were launched in 2004.
Among the early favorites to bag the grand prize are Jessica Lopez’s Motion of Life, (where she used hundreds of fish bone on wood), Jheco Lorica’s The Modern Throne of Basic Needs (oil on canvas), John Nikko Pelaez’s Beg (acrylic on canvas) and Dominic Nelson Jinon’s Come He’s Here (oil on canvas).
After the awarding ceremony, attendees will be treated to a full performance art show, billed as Ginugunita Kita, where Miclat’s poems that were turned into songs by Maestro Jesse Lucas will be showcased by A-list artists that include cellist
Renato Lucas, actress-singer Banaue Miclat-Jansenn (Maningning’s sister), crossover classical performer and actor Al Gatmaitan, dancer Angela Castro and award-winning contemporary visual artist Nasser Lubay. The show will be directed by actor-singer Roeder Camañag, who is a dear friend of the Miclat family.
“I was glued to her poems the moment I got hold her trilingual book of poetry, called Voice from the Underworld, and these inspired me to set her poetry into music. Her depth as a young artist is very evident in the words she chose to depict love—both unconditional and unrequited—life and pain. The process of creating music was meditative for me as a composer, perhaps even cleansing and empowering,” said Lucas.
For Camañag, the show is all about the creation of emotive response. “We first presented the show at the Unviersity of the Philippines in Diliman a few years back, and I’m just so looking forward to directing it again because Maningning’s poetry combined with the music of Jesse Lucas, and the heartfelt performances of our guest artists, can have a lasting effect on the audience.”
Maningning Miclat’s artistry was indeed ahead of her time. She wrote poetry, fiction and essays in English, Filipino and Mandarin, and she also dabbled in painting, especially during her stay in China.