‘Samo-Samo’ sa ILOMOCA: A culminating exhibit for Linangan Art Residency

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By John Anthony S. Estolloso

Samo-samo connotes a mishmash of things and meanings. It can be used in a contemptuous tone, in both imperative and accusative sense. “Himósa sinámò mo…,” I can recall someone berating me with that line when I make a mess or when I begin to lose focus on a certain task. It can also be synonymized with ‘halo-halo’, though it has none of the confectionary sweetness that the dessert entails. Rather, samo-samo evokes the image of a melting pot where the participant has to pick apart what he finds to his liking, and in the process, find what is relevant, appealing, or sentimental.

These were precisely what the culminating exhibit of 2025’s iteration of Linangan Art Residency had to offer: the search for relevance, appeal, and sentiment in the hodgepodge of colors, figures, and iconography. Hosted by the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art, it was the first time the program was held outside its Cavite home-ground, a nod to a more regional approach in coaching young artists, while highlighting regional contexts and perspectives – something that was truly felt in last January 10’s vernissage.

There were 21 participating young artists: Anza Palma, Gelo Zarsuelo, Jeiel Crismundo, Jerome Fadrogane, Jheane Borja, Jose Fraim Defacto Jr., Joshua Gabayeran, Kate Angeline Tillo, Ken Cadenas, Kirby Guirhem Majaque, Kisha Uygen, Kyle Francis Dile, Kyle Jocson, Mann Cayona, Mimi Centino, Peter John Dela Vega, Pong, Thria Reboquio, Yanni Ysabel, and Yzah Martina Calunsod. Burgeoning into an art scene cultivated and maintained by veteran local artistes, these young hopefuls broke through the aesthetic niche which they will become a part of: in the residency, mentorship meets admittance.

What stood out would be personalities mirroring themselves in their artworks. In their shared stories surfaced experiential encounters which become palpable and perceivable through their art. Some of them I have met and interacted in previous art events. Some were mutual friends with my students; one was my former STEM student who dabbled into the humanities and fell deep into the heart-wells of art.

Admittedly, I was not able to follow the many sessions of the residency. What I did know from social media posts and photos in the preceding months were the instances when notable local artists and connoisseurs have shared their knowledge about art and the art scene. Counting among them were notables like Charlie Co, Renato Habulan, Kristoffer Brasileño, and Martin Genodepa, to name a few. Then again, art residencies are meant to provide aspiring artists with the necessities for creative praxis: time, space, resources, and the wisdom of experience and aesthetic sensibilities from seasoned practitioners – and yes, it showed in the outputs.

Newness is something very relative in art, and so it was with the exhibit. Observably, portraits abounded, and the human form and its dismembered appendages took the emphases of many a canvas – au naturel, clothed, contorted, distorted, deconstructed, or reconstructed dramatically, as the corpus becomes a field of narrative. Subjects and themes ranged from the political to the religious, treatments of which spanned the cynical to the allegorical. The sacred was juxtaposed with the secular, while conventional classicisms were interspersed with abstractions and surrealist reimaginings. One might see a suggestion of a Dali dreamscape in a canvas or hints of Basquiat in another politically charged assemblage. Collectively, to attempt to thread the collection of art displayed would just might be a futile exercise of gestalt. One is invited to be comfortable with the eclecticism and for all its bewildering variety and range, the exhibit was starkly revealing of fledgling aesthetic aspirations and their inspirations. Sinámò gid man.

Affirming these personal ruminations gleaned from the displays, a cursory conversation with artist and residency director Emmanuel Garibay gave this writer a glimpse of what art entails, both in its material and spiritual aspects, where the artist aspires to a communion with the Divine in the creation of art. More than mere materiality and the constraints of our social institutions (painting prices included) the role of the artist is elevated to that of intellectual: in his talents, he becomes a commentator of the spirit of the times. Hence, to dabble in art is to Become and Transcend. (For my part, I hope there is a sequel to this conversation.)

The culmination two weeks ago was a graduation of sorts, yet it was also a crucial step for the artists into something aesthetically bigger. We wish them the best and we look forward to their future works and exhibits, in whichever space or subject they wish these to be. Samo-samo indeed: let there be Order, Beauty, and Wisdom from the chaos.

(The writer is a language and literature teacher in one of the private schools in the city. The photos are from the artists; the poster is from the museum.)