Exhibit Reflection

By Iris Aringo

Fourth of April, Monday, I was on my way to my COMM 10 class. There has been a lot of instances that the exhibit on the second building made me stop in my tracks, and that moment was one of them. My wristwatch told me I still had around seven minutes until the grace period ends, so I stayed for a while to see what the artists have in store again. It was kind of so-so; the humor and sarcasm did not help clear out morning clogs in my brain which then lead me to hurrying to the room where my class is usually held. But after the class was over, the task to write about what we saw in the exhibit made me look more closely, and observe. Gathering in the exhibit area, my classmates were taking too many pictures, and I realized a crazy idea. It dawned on me that the Filipinos do love good laughs. The content in the komiks were sometimes witty, some plain sarcastic, and some addressing serious issues that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth– but all are expressed in a comical way. The messages conveyed and matters discussed were more than just topics for doodling, and what more better way to deliver criticism to Filipinos than to make it creative and funny? Sure, the overall content might be a desperate call for change, development, naked truth and all things good that is crucially needed by our society today, but the happy nature of Filipinos to find something worth smiling about even in the midst of raging storms shines on the exaggerated faces and jokes and puns visible in the artworks in front of me. And I think it is a positive thing.