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Cast Away into the Ocean: Ianna Engaño’s Lamang-dagat Ceramic Series

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Known for her ceramic works inspired by marine life, Oda combines the beauty of oddity, magic, and the ocean into her new ceramic series – Lamang-dagat at Silang Lumalangoy.

 

 

Syokoys and Sirenas have been part of the Philippine mythology for a long time. They are both mythological sea creatures with peculiarities; Syokoys are green-skinned humanoids with scales and fins like a fish while sirenas are the Filipino counterpart of mermaids. If they were true, all of their eccentricities would have made them outcasts in our society, they would have hidden deep in the abyss of an ocean that nobody wants to explore.

 

 

Gaining social acceptance is as elusive as catching a firefly in a dead forest. Once a person deviates from what they call beautiful and normal, it will be difficult to catch that firefly. Centuries have passed but discrimination is still a thing for human beings who don’t seem to learn, as well as prejudice. They swim at the surface of the ocean where they only see the most trivial matters; because they don’t try hard enough to go for a deep dive, they don’t see the most important matters and the far more exquisite reefs that keep the ocean alive.

 

This ceramic series is the artist’s warm embrace for those who are different. Whether it is because of your gender, sexuality, race, skin color, physical disabilities, and other conditions that people see you as someone different, you are not alone as you journey out of that abyss. You do not have to live in the dark because your light is what the world needs in order for it to grow.

Ceramic sale is still ongoing on Instagram (@odangputik) and you can still get your own ceramic mugs. There are only a few mugs left from this series!

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This article was written by Lin Bajala, writer for Ianna Engaño since 2020.

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Birth of A Hundred And Ten

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The 110 newly hatched sea turtles are made with acrylic on bisque ware. These are the continuation of the artist’s series of sculptures featuring endangered marine animals to remind us, human beings, that we are not the only children of Mother Nature and whatever we do will not only affect the next generation of human beings, but it will also have an impact on other living things. The first series featured blue whales in an installation art made for Tuklas 2021 entitled “Out of the  Blue”.  

 

As also shown in National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ Bagong Biswal 2021, this artwork gives life to the artist’s memories of the people whom she has helped to open their eyes to the world of art, and to the world that she perceives. An average of 110 green sea turtles are produced by one bold adult female green sea turtle; before they are hatched, the fearless mother must surpass the wobbling waves of the ocean to reach breeding sites on land. And sadly, these hatchlings have a low chance of survival. In parallel with that fact, the artist sees herself as the mother of those green sea turtles who survived the waves. The vehement waves are the self-proclaimed righteous people or the know-it-alls who tried to control her life and who tried to smash her with their belittlements – saying that she would not have a bright future if she pursues her art and that she would have a better life if she chose a different profession in the field of science.  Unswayed by unsolicited advice, the artist stood firm with the plans she created for herself – her dream to become an artist and to let art be her best soldier in fighting for her advocacies. If she had been swayed by these waves, she wouldn’t have given birth to these sea turtles. But for the artist, given that these sea turtles have a low chance of survival, it will still be up to these sea turtles if they would strive to live out the inspiration that she somehow gave them – the inspiration to continue writing their dreams and not to simply follow what they’ve been told to do.

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This article was written by Lin Bajala, writer for Ianna Engaño since 2020.

Odangputik Pottery Studio

Picture of Written by Lin Bajala

Written by Lin Bajala

Outside Odangputik Pottery, Lin is a poet, a singer-songwriter, a researcher, content writer, social media strategist, an entrepreneur, a cat mom, and an advocate for equality. She is an INFJ-A without a doubt. And if you ask her if she can choose between English or Filipino, she'll choose the Filipino language without hesitation! But something that perfectly describes her is that she is a woman who will most likely adopt every street cat she sees.

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Out of The Blue

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Arrow, Bandit, Coral, Crystal, Olympia, Willy, and Tornado are the whales that long for a higher chance of survival and saving their kind from the perilous and avaricious acts of human beings against them. Bounded to their names are their sufferings and outcries – enraged, in fear, disturbed, desperately fighting for life, old and tired, a warrior, and becoming courageous – if only they could speak.

The sculptures of these whales portray the artist’s respect for the Earth’s ocean and other bodies of water. In Filipino culture, sculptures are built for the highly respected ones. And respect, in a philosophical perspective, is a mode of attention to and an acknowledgment of an object as having certain importance.

Because of the lingering childhood memories from Manila Bay – the place where Ianna, the artist, grew up until she was seven years old – and how it captured an enormous part of the artist’s heart, she chose to show her deep apprehension for water on Earth especially for the sea and the ocean. She always ponders over the fact that without water on Earth, there would be no life; and if life on water dies, the body of water dies with it. And so, for her, the critically endangered blue whales are not some things to be taken for granted – she values their lives as much as she values human lives. But out of all the other endangered marine animals that the artist could create, why did she choose to build these sculptures of blue whales first? The answer lies within her soul; blue whales are the epitomes of her personality. Blue whales are more solitary compared to other whale species and that makes the artist’s quality of exuding joy from being alone can be likened to them. A parallel, in addition, can be drawn between their solitude and the artist’s independence.

This installation art is part of Tuklas 2021, an art mentorship program led by Alfredo Esquillo of Eskinita Art Farm at Tanauan, Batangas for young Filipino artists chosen by Renato Habulan, Manny Garibay, and Mark Justiniani.

Odangputik Pottery Studio's avatar

This article was written by Lin Bajala, writer for Ianna Engaño since 2020.

Odangputik Pottery Studio

Picture of Written by Lin Bajala

Written by Lin Bajala

Outside Odangputik Pottery, Lin is a poet, a singer-songwriter, a researcher, content writer, social media strategist, an entrepreneur, a cat mom, and an advocate for equality. She is an INFJ-A without a doubt. And if you ask her if she can choose between English or Filipino, she'll choose the Filipino language without hesitation! But something that perfectly describes her is that she is a woman who will most likely adopt every street cat she sees.

Other Stories