Junjun Duarte’s Artistic Choices, Assertions, and Reiterations

The 6th solo exhibition of Junjun Duarte (b. 1967) carries an unusual title: NONEDOCO, an acronym standing for Now Showing, Next Picture, Double With, Coming Soon. These terms evoke the painted marquees and signages of bygone movie houses. Having grown up in an older Iloilo, which boasted one of the highest concentrations of cinemas in the Philippines from the 1950s through the 1980s, the artist draws on memory to present, critique, and offer alternatives to the nation’s current social conditions. For younger audiences, the concept of a “double program” may seem foreign; yet in Iloilo’s mid-century movie houses, a single ticket granted entry to two successive film screenings.

Understanding this cinematic inspiration illuminates Duarte’s underlying motivation and perspective. Through his artworks, Duarte presents himself as a weary witness to the recurring tides of society, asserting that he has lived through these cyclical crises and seen them return, carrying a clear and present danger of harm.

The mixed-media assemblages in this exhibition serve as Duarte’s “been-there-done-that” statements, visually rephrased as seen-that-before. The exhibition carries a distinctly bleak undertone, sounding a warning against societal repetition, fatigue, and ennui. Given that this is only his sixth solo exhibition since beginning his art practice in the 1980s, it is understandable that Duarte arrives at Museo Iloilo with a dense accumulation of commentary. Curatorially, the space functions like a program of short experimental but highly symbolic films, each with its own narrative, grouped and classified yet still connected. And to fully grasp Duarte’s intent, one must pay close attention to the titles of each work.

Occupying the central wall are works addressing grave matters of concern or threats facing the individual, society, and the nation as a whole. Agwantista is a statement on personal physical pain, endurance, and patience. Lipas Oras, Lipas Gutom, Lipas Panahon warns against the traps of passive leisure, poverty, fleeting pleasure, and being left behind. Dumber Games features imagery of nuclear warheads, critiquing warring nations and the impending threat of human annihilation. Kapatid sa Kapatid, Laman sa Laman expands on the theme of war, specifically warning against local, internecine conflicts spawned by regionalism and political or ideological polarization. OFW (More Money vs Less Memories) reflects on the Filipino diaspora and its emotional toll on the family unit. Warning Sign (Poison) asserts that greed, hatred, vice, and social media corrupt both the individual and the broader social fabric. Data Bank is an indictment of technology where the mind, the heart, and the soul, aspects that make beings human, are manipulated if not downright exploited. Although these social ills are not new, Duarte emphasizes that they remain dangerously unaddressed, continuously menaced by personal or collective inaction.

The artist, however, does not surrender entirely to pessimism. Duarte does not abandon hope. Peace (Mindfulness) suggests that inner bliss, equanimity, serenity, and contentment remain attainable through spiritual groundedness, symbolized by the taijitu (Daoist yin-yang), the lotus, and a house harboring a heart. Knowledge is Power reiterates the value of education in alleviating poverty and fostering development.

Duarte’s spiritual reflections become pronounced with Judeo-Christian references in another section. 1 Samuel 16:7 (Don’t Judge the Book by Its Cover) references the biblical passage where God looks at the heart rather than outward appearances. The assemblage features four traditional buri bayongs (woven bags) pinned to wire mesh panels. A bayong adorned with a mask is paired with one featuring a hole exposing sharp bamboo skewers; conversely, an unadorned bayong is paired alongside one revealing a fill of New Testament Bibles. Grouped along this wall, likely referencing the crown of thorns and Jesus Christ, is an abstract head fashioned from toothpicks titled The Most Dangerous Weapon. It flanked by two abstract washes titled Renewal and Harmony that makes the arrangement akin to a prayer.

Duarte proposes pathways for survival and protection from social decay through his Panagang Series, which explores religious syncretism – the blending of indigenous folk beliefs and Roman Catholicism. Scapulars, crucifixes, and traditional amulets interwoven with colored threads are centrally composed on canvas against washes of paint.

A panagang (meaning protection or amulet) takes many forms in Western Visayas. Traditionally sourced from the Ati communities, it can refer to a small bottle filled with herbs, mineral grains, and coconut oil, or a carmen, an indigenized version of the Catholic Our Lady of Mount Carmel medallion without the image of the Virgin. The Ati carmen of Panay and Guimaras is typically a small piece of sewn cloth (shaped like a circle, square, or heart) containing dried herbs, seeds, and mineral bits like pyrite and hematite, pinned to clothing for protection. In recent years, Ati artisans have adapted, encasing these protective ingredients inside flexible plastic tubing to create wearable bracelets.

Duarte’s intentional inclusion of colored threads carries deep symbolic weight. The red threads evoke the bunang (cotton thread) used in indigenous Visayan rituals such as batak dungan (literally, to raise or strengthen the spirit/soul), arming the individual to resist malevolent forces. The multicolored threads extend to global beliefs. They reference the Asian concept of the red thread of fate (found in Chinese, Thai, and Korean traditions), the Greek mythological thread of life dictating human destiny, and the protective red strings used in Kabbalah to ward off negative energy. Through these protective accessories, Duarte suggests either returning to one’s roots for survival or fortifying the human spirit to withstand impending adversity.

An architect and educator, Duarte, who has received prizes from art competitions like the Philippine Art Awards and the Art Association of the Philippines, has maintained a consistent focus on human experience, social commentary, and environmental awareness throughout his career. Early on, he leaned into non-traditional, site-available materials. His entry to the inaugural national art exhibition organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2001 primarily utilized sand instead of paint. The mixed-media piece, titled Mysterious Nearing Extinction: Only in the Philippines, was an abstract rendering inspired by the skin pattern of the butanding (whale shark). The artwork is now part of the UPV Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage and on view in the permanent exhibition of the museum.

Duarte’s titles are simultaneously descriptive, cautionary, and ominous. The abstract elements in his work serve as poetic devices capable of giving form to the inexpressible. By frequently incorporating physical calendars into his socio-political series in this exhibition, Duarte emphasizes both the pressing urgency of time and the sobering reality that these human struggles are as old as time itself.

Duarte’s art does not aim to be decorative or comfortable. While not explicitly shocking or jarring, his work demands contemplative reflection. Unswayed by commercial trends, Duarte remains steadfast in his distinct artistic voice. As artist Jose Tence Ruiz thoughtfully noted in his Facebook post:

“Artists are always free to choose to be concerned about Esoteric Onanistic Pleasant Formal issues or to lament blatant Genocide and the Decline of Human Civilization. We are all free, after all, until these issues snatch them away from our comfortable lives.”