As we commemorate her birth anniversary today, the #NationalMuseumPH looks back at the artistry of Yakan textiles and the legacy of Manlilikha ng Bayan Ambalang Ausalin, who recently passed away at the age of 78 last 18 February 2022.

A master magtetennun (weaver) of Yakan textiles, MB Ambalang Ausalin, or Apuh Ambalang, was renowned for her excellent skills in Yakan weaving techniques and designs, such as the sinalu’an and seputangan, the trademark of which were eye-catching colors and balanced combination of minute diamonds and other geometric designs. 

Yakan textile is said to be a reflection of the “pure beauty of nature.” Each design and shape weaved through the cloth carries meaning drawn from nature. Plant and animal motifs in the designs speak of their cultural significance to their community. For instance, the punoh punoh, which abound the sides of the seputangan, represents the mountains. The diamonds which are commonly used in the seputangan, as seen in the dinglu or mata mata (diamond/eye) and kabban buddi (diamond/triangle) designs, symbolize rice grains and wealth. The X-shaped designs, which form an illusion when grouped with the diamonds, represent rice mortars. The combination of diamonds and X-shaped designs thus alludes to a bountiful harvest and captures an aspect of the Yakan community as being agriculturists. 

Some of the animal motifs seen in the bunga sama, include the kaba kaba (fairy or butterfly wings) and the snake, which are considered as the vehicles of spirits and a symbol of power and authority. These designs of the bunga sama, also trademarked for their bold and floral designs, are used particularly for the trousers of high-status males. 

For Apuh Ambalang, the close association between Yakan textiles and nature required her to be in commune with the environment, spirit ancestors, and the Creator and to manifest this harmony through her tools—the thread and the loom. This artistry, which she passed down to her daughters, nieces, and other weavers, strengthens the identity of the Yakan community and helps preserve their heritage, amidst the threat of these traditions disappearing in a more globalized world. 

#AmbalangAusalin
#GAMABA
#ManlilikhaNgBayan
#YakanTextiles

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

Photo courtesy of the NCCA GAMABA Executive Council 

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 91st birth anniversary of National Artist for Visual Arts Ang Kiukok, born #OnThisDay in 1931 by featuring “Still Life” — his 1974 watercolor from the National Fine Arts Collection (NFAC). 

2001 National Artist for Visual Arts Ang Kiukok was born to Chinese immigrants Vicente Ang and Chin Lim. Born in Davao City, Kiukok started schooling at a Chinese high school, and in 1947, learned to create portraits in charcoal. After five years, Kiukok left Davao for Manila and took art classes at the University of Santo Tomas from 1952 to 1954, but he had to stop because of financial constraints. 

Ang Kiukok started his artistic career by producing watercolor paintings. His skill in this painting medium can be traced to his training in Chinese calligraphy. In 1954, at the age of 23, he held his first one-man exhibition, composed of more than 20 watercolor paintings. National Artist Vicente Manansala (1910-1981), one of his mentors at the UST, observed the artist’s proficiency in watercolor that Manansala even showed Kiukok’s watercolors to his students. In this painting, watermelon slices are on top of a table rendered in his signature cubist-expressionist style.  

Roces (2000) mentioned that “most of Kiukok’s watercolors are still life because this medium excels in the simple and spontaneous. Kiukok applies a wet on wet technique along with his direct “brushmanship” to render a watermelon’s red succulence.” 

National Artist Ang Kiukok died on May 9, 2005, in Quezon City at the age of 74. 

“Still Life” is exhibited on the executive floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts.  You may visit other works of the National Artist at the Pillars of Philippine Modernism Gallery (Gallery XIX) and at The Philippine Center New York Core Collection of 1974: A Homecoming Exhibition (Galleries XXVII and XXVIII).

#OnThisDay
#MuseumFromHome
#AngKiukok

Text by NMP FAD
Photo by Bengy Toda

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

For this week’s #TrowelTuesday, we are featuring the Neolithic artifacts of the Batanes Islands.

The Neolithic Period in Southeast Asia is described as a transition from hunter-gatherer population to village farmers. Discovered artifacts supporting such transition included polished stone adzes and axes for boat-building, distinctive red slipped pottery with circle stamped decorations, stone bark cloth beaters, spindle whorls, and fishing implements, among others. The pottery, seldom found intact, are either plain or with decorative patterns that include circle stamps, cord marks, dentate impression, and incision. The presence of Neolithic artifacts is recognized as part of the spread of the languages and culture of Austronesian – a language family previously known as the Malayo-Polynesian group of languages that spread across Mainland and Island Southeast Asia.

In the Philippines, the Neolithic Period is estimated to be about 4500 to 2500 years ago. Archaeological evidence for Neolithic culture found in the Batanes Islands included artifact remains of polished adze technology and the red slipped wares (earthenware pottery) with circle stamps and cord-impressed marks, providing information on the earliest settlement established at about 4000 years ago. Batanes was inhabited by Austronesian-speaking people who probably reached the islands by boat or raft about 4500 years ago. 

Research done through archaeology, comparative linguistics, and human genetics proved these early settlers’ connection to Austronesian speakers that originated from Taiwan. Studies made by archaeologists Hidefumi Ogawa, Peter Bellwood, Eusebio Dizon, and Hsiao-chun Hung shed light on the Austronesian occupation of Batanes Islands. For instance, Hung and coauthors’ 2007 publication discussed Fengtian nephrite, which was exploited in Taiwan around 4500 years ago, and brought to the Philippines about 3800–3500 years ago and manufactured as lingling-o or split earrings, and other ornaments.  

Pottery assemblage from Torongan Cave and Reranum Rockshelter in Itbayat Island in Batanes consisted of plain red slipped pottery, circle-stamped sherds with lime or clay infilling, and cord-marked design that established a baseline for the Batanes Neolithic period as early as about 3500 years ago.  Stone artifacts found in the Batanes Islands, particularly in the sites of Sunget and Anaro, consisted of adzes with asymmetrical bevels, flaked and hammer dressed hoes, bark cloth beaters, sawn and ground Taiwan slate points and knives, grinding stones, pendants, and side-notched pebble sinkers. These provided data on the late phase of the Neolithic Period from about 3000 to 2200 years ago. 

The #NationalMuseumPH is open to the public at a limited capacity. Explore more of our collections by booking through this website. 

#PhilippineNeolithicPeriod
#ArchaeologyOfBatanesIslands
#MuseumFromHome

Text by Ame Garong and poster by Timothy James Vitales

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines