The deeper meaning of "Fishermen": An ART RESPONSE

 “Fishermen” is a painting by Ang Kiukok, A Filipino artist from Chinese descent and was a National Artist for Visual arts and is considered as one of the leading exponents of Philippine figurative expressionism. The painting shows people working and struggling together to catch fish. While the background adds an emphatic symbol of constancy and perpetual energy. He has made many versions of paintings showing fishermen struggling but this one was one of the most known ones. The painting means to struggle is to have hope for it exists side by side. Ang Kiukok’s painting was done in unique oil colors on a canvas mounted on wood 60.5 x 91.2 cm (23 3/4 x 36 in).

The painting symbolizes the current age we are in today. The artist was trying to show how hard it is to live like a Filipino. And that with these struggles eventually comes hope. Just like in the current situation the Philippines is in now. A lot of Young Filipino students eventually give in to the struggles of being a student and get devoured by their stress and forgetting the most important part that hope cannot be achieved without struggles. And it is hope that keeps us going.


Looking at this painting I remember the stories my father used to tell me, He told me his struggles when he was a kid like me. And how lucky I was for I didn’t encounter those same struggles he had when he was a kid. But as he said his struggles in life there was no sign of grief in his face. It was like he accepted those struggles and lived through it to tell his stories. He knew that after the struggles was hope for a new beginning. And now I have always wanted to experience what it’s like. But I know that only time will tell.


“Fishermen” is truly a painting used to describe the daily struggles of the Filipinos. It is showed in the painting how they struggle to get food for their family just to survive another day. It is seen on the painting how much the two fishermen are struggling to get their catch. For me it shows the very lives of all Filipinos. For the Philippines struggled a lot. Got colonized two times and still got its own independence later on. To struggle is to one day find hope somewhere. And now in the common era, A lot of Filipinos still struggle with food and financial problems. But most of them still strive for hope. Hope for the coming days, Hope that one day it’ll be okay. Because in every problem there is always a solution.


Ang Kiukok’s paintings might’ve been just a whim of his. Just another version of the fishermen painting he has. But each and every one of his paintings had their own meanings, and this one has its own meaning. He is trying to tell the people that’re looking at the art that there is always a rainbow after the rain. It is okay to struggle because to struggle means to survive. “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort”


https://salcedoauctions.com/item/1317

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Kiukok

The current problems amidst Covid-19

 

If you live right now in this time then you’ve probably heard of the dangerous virus named Covid-19. There are many ways to tackle this said virus and many ways to prevent it. Each country had their own ways in getting rid of this virus for good. Some countries even completely shut off their industrial side which led to their GDP dropping. But because of that the problem got easily solved within weeks. Now the people who were too late on the uptake are now in a dire situation where a lot of people within the country are infected. And one of those countries is the Philippines, the situation in the Philippines right now is problematic and hectic because they are confused on what to do and were like the many other countries, they were slow in the uptake and didn’t take action immediately which in turn led to its situation now. Many countries are trying to help Philippines right now. By sending medical goods and budget for the country, but what if that budget was to get corrupted. And not received by the people who need it the most.

Now recently, the people of the Philippines discovered that the supposed budget for Covid-19 didn’t even reach them and suddenly just disappeared like it was nothing. Not to mention the amount that was stolen, which was 15 Billion pesos and approximately 300,000 dollars, 15 billion pesos is already a huge help to the Filipinos if it was given to the people, but sadly it was not. Now the people want answers from the department who is in charge of the money, which is the Department of Health. But specifically, its branch PhilHealth. It’s not just PhilHealth alone, many other departments and branches of these departments do the same stuff. They tend to corrupt money from the poor who have no way to testify to their wrongdoings which in turn leads to them ultimately not getting punished for their actions.

They tend to target the poor because of that reason, they are not afraid of getting caught because no one would suspect a thing, And even if 10 or 20 people notice they can’t do a thing. Because in order to inspect a certain department. You need to have solid evidence and proof that they’re doing wrong things. But what proof can the poor gather? When they’re already in a tight spot. The government should seek to move first if given the opportunity to take action against corruption. For they have the authority, power, and the responsibility to do so.

The reason why the government doesn’t take immediate action is not because they lack the necessary evidences but rather most of the people in the position are also corrupted. Just like the corrupted 15 billion pesos for the Covid-19 that was corrupted. The only punishment given to the president of the said association that corrupted the large sum of money was the removal of his said position in the association. Corrupting money that big should definitely get you in prison, but no. The said government only removed his position and did nothing more.

That is why they should change the people in the department. Or a much better solution is changing how the department functions and works entirely. And I prefer the latter. Because what use is changing the people of the department if the loopholes the previous members used is still there. Problems would still soon arise, and corruption would soon be abundant again in the department. It is not the fault of the members, it is the fault of the way how the department works.

It is without saying, Act now or act never.