Art Stroll Sunday Feature – “Hulat Sweldo” (1994)

Posted on: July 17, 2022 | National Museum of the Philippines

For this week’s #ArtStrollSunday featuring the National Fine Arts Collection, we present “Hulat Sweldo” (1994), a painting by Negrense social realist painter Nunelucio Alvarado.

“Hulat Sweldo”, a Hiligaynon phrase for delayed wages, is Alvarado’s two-panel oil on canvas painting made in 1994 to represent the plight and struggle of the sakadas or migrant farmworkers. Coming from a region that thrives on the sugar industry, this work reflects his life of living with the sakadas who are depicted with stocky and muscular bodies, their pallid face in stark contrast to their weather-beaten skin, and their curiously big eyes give a powerful and moving gaze that tells their stories of hardship.

Alvarado is one of the social realists who took the lead in protest art in the 1970s, presenting sociopolitical themes in their works of various styles and media to campaign for issues such as workers’ rights, women’s rights, land reform, and the struggle of cultural communities, among others.

This painting is exhibited at the National Museum of Fine Arts at the Northeast Hallway Gallery on the third floor. It is part of the “Social and Political Commentary After The 1970’s” exhibition. It features works by social realist painters such as Nunelucio Alvarado (b. 1950), Papo de Asis (1949-2005), Orlando Castillo (b. 1947), Antipas Delotavo (b. 1954), Imelda Cajipe-Endaya (b. 1949), Edgar Talusan Fernandez (b. 1955), Gene de Loyola (1956-2018), Red Mansueto (b. 1944), Pablo Baens Santos (b. 1943), and Roy Veneracion (b. 1947).

Alvarado was born in 1950 and currently lives in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, where he has helped establish several artist collectives. These include the Black Artists in Asia, Pamilya Pintura, Pintor Kulapol, and Concerned Artists of Negros. He also runs a café and art space called Kape Albarako and acts as art director of Syano Artlink. Alvarado has participated in exhibitions locally and internationally, such as in Singapore (1996 and 2004), Japan (1997), and the U.S.A. (1998). He also represented the country in the first Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art held in Australia in 1992.

Alvarado was awarded the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artist Award in 1992 for his art which serves as a platform for voicing the struggles of the marginalized sectors and his active participation in supporting the creative community in Negros region.

Visit us at the National Museum of Fine Arts or view the 360 degrees virtual tour of selected NMFA galleries on the link https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nmfa360/HTML5/NMFA360.html. See you at your National Museum!

#NunelucioAlvarado
#BeatCOVID19

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda