Alimuom: Memories and nostalgia

Alimuom Art Exhibit at the Baguio Convention Center

Alimuom is the local term for petrichor - the scent that the earth emits after it had not rained for a long time. It's not the smell of the sewers and canals and pavements but the earth, the ground, the soil. This is better appreciated if you are away from the city. There is that comforting almost pleasant smell to it.

That is the inspiration from which the artists built their works from for this said exhibition. According to their page it is part memory and part nostalgia.

This month is the Ibagiw Creative Festival. (Of note, Ibagiw is how we call someone from Baguio City. Baguio originated from the word 'bagiw,' a moss that grew abundantly here in the mountains before.) This is a month-long festival that is happening here in our city. This is to celebrate the local artists, their work, the culture of the people, the community, ancestry and heritage.

Baguio City has been added to the list of UNESCO's creative city in 2017. The city is full of artists. As the center of the Cordilleras, you will see here the works of different cultures. What better way then to show these homegrown talents but through an exhibit?

I feasted my eyes on the artistry, creativity, concept, execution of these artists.

Sharing photos would flood this blog so I'd better show it through a video.

There are so many striking works tis overwhelming to see how the brain works. There were lots of different medium used, different materials that the artists have used. From photo, painting, clay, metal, fiberglass, wood, even pyrography and so much more.

The photos on the left are part of the work of Rocky Cajigan. From what I have understood, those scales represent one of the rice terraces of Bontoc, Mountain Province known as the Kadchog Rice Terraces. What is mind blowing is that those mud samples in each pan were from different plots. They were placed according to their approximate GPS location.

I forgot to take note of the artist who made the art installation as seen on the photo on the right. I didn't know at first what was the installation made of. This is the first thing that we noticed. It is located at a room directly to the left as you enter the exhibit. It is really catchy that's why we checked it out first. Only when I came closer to it did I see that it is a fiberglass and in it were dried fishes. I think this depicts a school of fish. Check the video above.

The photo on the top is an interesting one for the more you look at it, the more you see. I just can't stop looking at it.

The bottom photo is made of bones, bullets, letters, etc.

Both these works are mesmerizing to look at because of the materials used and the art as a whole.

There are lots of paintings and photos that one can see. It's interesting how each of us see things differently and to share that to others is an eye opener. It helps see what others see.

The official opening of the Ibagiw Festival was held last Friday. The art exhibit was then opened to the public yesterday. There is no fee to be collected when you visit the exhibit. You just have to register once you're there.

The first Ibagiw Festival was still the best that I have attended so far. It was done at the park and it was lively, engaging and everyone was enjoying. There may be some other activities then that were held within some parts of the city to which I wasn't aware but I like what I saw at the park then. Sadly, I lost the photos that I took then.

This year's exhibit will be open to the public from November 13 to December 12, 2021 Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m at the basement of Baguio Convention Center. If you happen to be in the city during those dates, feel free to drop by and check it out. The convention center is nearby SM mall.

There are other exhibits to be visited and I hope I can see them all and share it here as well.

Do you like visiting art exhibits like this?

Our plan was to go visit the exhibit and then to the grocery but ended up roaming around the city and the outskirts. I will be posting the other places we have been to later on.

Thanks a lot of your time and support.

All photos are mine.