Joar Songcuya
January 16 – February 7, 2021
Altro Mondo Creative Space
1159 Chino Roces Avenue, San Antonio Village, 1203 Makati
+639178887872 (Viber or Whatsapp)
Altro Mondo presents The History of Water by Joar Songcuya, curated by Charlie Samuya Veric. The exhibit opens on January 16th and will run until February 7th.
The exhibit, curated by poet and curator Charlie Samuya Veric, demonstrates Songcuya’s skill for capturing the vicissitude of the sea, a talent he honed over the decade that he spent sailing the world.
Art served as the pillar of Songcuya’s strength in the years he spent traversing the infinite expanse of water from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It’s art that consoled him when he nearly drowned in sorrow alone at sea or cowered in fear when waves nearly swallowed his ship. It gave him courage when he found himself in the territory of pirates or on days when his ship’s engine would break down for hours at a time.
The History of Water is not just Songcuya’s story, but rather, the story of every Filipino seafarer who has come before him and will come after him.
Joar Songcuya is self-taught artist with a background in Marine Engineering. His art draws inspiration from his life at sea using subjects such as marine landscapes, boats, and waves.He started sailing the world as an apprentice at 18 years old after receiving a Norwegian Scholarship for Marine Engineering at John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University- Molo (formerly Iloilo Maritime Academy).
He has traveled to almost 50 countries and 86 shipping ports and terminals worldwide. The long months of solitary confinement he endured at sea became his motivating force to create art. His work is thus a documentation of his travels and life at sea in the form of sketchbook drawings, canvas paintings, writings, and photography that focus on navigation and maritime subjects.
