Princess Joy O.

Cabrera
2 BSA 5

Last August 16, 2016, Tuesday, while I’m on my way to University library I saw an exhibit and
it really caught my attention so I stopped for a while to look for the different art works posted. As I
spend time looking to those artworks I recognized that the exhibit is mainly about asking freedom for
political detainees and long-time world peace. At that time, I really admired those artists behind that
meaningful exhibit because at first glanced I felt and appreciated what they want viewers to feel while
looking at the different paintings they made. So I think that the purpose of the exhibit is to educate
people about who really political detainees are and as well as to express some societal issues that are
rampant in our country. Some artists also want to show the simplicity of life here in Nueva Ecija.
But one black and white painting made only from the ink of ball pen indeed caught my interest.
The title and of course the drawing touched my heart. The exact title of the art work is “Hapis at Pag-
asa”. The two words are contradicting. It represents the life of a political detainee. Political detainees are
persons who are persecuted and denied of liberty because of their political and social beliefs and
advocacies. They fight for the national democratic and patriotic rights and welfare for the workers,
peasants, settlers, fisher folk, national minorities, women and children, youth-and-students, elderly’s and
PWD’s. But they were arrested while selflessly serving the Filipino people without expecting monetary
and/or material compensation. They lead a life guided by the “simple living and hard struggle”.
I think the art work I chose best exemplify the journey of a political detainee. In the art work,
there is an awful man sitting on floor while he was inside the jail. It seems that his youth was already
gone. His pitiful image depicts the years of unhappiness and loneliness. But still he is hopeful that one
day they will have justice, an unbiased justice.
As I criticized deeper the whole drawing, I think the audience will feel the sadness and loneliness
of the man in the artwork because it is really hard to be in jail. I cannot imagine the life inside it. Aside
from this, it is very hard to pay for the things you made that you think are right. Political detainees only
fight for the sake of fellowmen. The significance of the drawing is that to make people realize that
political detainees are not criminals they are also victims of poor justice in our country. The drawing
also asked for help. They want people to help them regain their liberty which they truly deserve.
The subject matter is about political detainee asking for his well-deserve freedom. It manifests
the agony, suffering and pain that a political detainee feels when he is still inside the jail.
The form of art is very realistic. The color of the drawing suits its theme and message. We all
know that color black is a sad color. It symbolizes sadness, agony and death. These three are all present
in the drawing. Of course the sadness and agony of the detainee either because of loss of freedom or
they are really longing for their loved ones. Most important is death, it doesn’t mean physical death. It
mainly denotes the death of a fair justice system in our country. Neutrality became absent between the
powerful individual and common citizen.
As a generalization, Art play an important role in our life. Art is life itself. It helps us express
what we cannot express orally. It can also contribute to open the eyes of our fellowmen about certain
issues in our country like for example, these things about political detainees.