Kublai Millan
December 8 – January 8, 2022
Poblacion Market Central
C. Bangoy St, Poblacion District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
Artist Rey Mudjahid “Kublai” P. Millan shares the secret that has been fueling his career as an artist and a mentor that has been allowing him to do more for art and artists: Offering his life to be an instrument of endeavors that seek to bring light to lives and thoughts and painting only in colors that delight and bring forth jubilation.
This series embodies symbols of prosperity and joy, fitting for the season, and most appropriate for the times.
The Center of these pieces is the Sarimanok, the prevalent figure in Maranao art that has been adopted by the whole of Mindanao as its colors reflect festivity, the fish in is beak regarded as a symbol of giving, of divine providence.
While Sarimanok has captured the imagination of this island region, it actually has spiritual implications to the Maranao people as it is their totem bird named Itotoro. Maranao legend says the sarimanok Itotoro is a medium to the spirit world through its twin Inikadowa — a rooster in the first of seven heavens. As a bird that crosses the heavens and the earth, it has been regarded as a symbol of prosperity, the fish in its beak the symbol of divine providence.
But like a lot of things about Mindanao, very little is known about Itotoro nor Inikadowa. One thing is sure, as the secret to prosperity, the sarimanok, Itotoro, and Inikadowa are in plain view but their meanings have been lost from the consciousness of the people. All that is left are the colorful palettes the Sarimanok brings, and the ubiquitous fish it holds in its beak.
Kublai brings back the colors and weaves these into tresses that bring movements and feelings of joy, reminding us that this season of giving holds the secret to Prosperity that humanity has long desired.
For it is in giving that we receive. — Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
