THE SEEDED WOMB

Today, I finished a painting entitled The Seeded Womb. It inspired me to continue and create more graphite and digital sketches of a pregnant body carrying layers of judgment in her womb. This work is purely representational and is not meant to disrespect a woman’s body as a subject. I have always admired the female figure, seeing it as something close to a goddess. At the moment, I find myself recalling the idea of the Sacred Feminine from Dan Brown’s early Robert Langdon books. After reading and watching these works, I became a fan and an avid reader of Brown.

The digital art I created, however, is inspired by the legendary Philippine creature known as the Manananggal. There is no single term that fully describes her, but I will try to explain what makes this creature distinct.

The Manananggal is often compared to a vampire or Dracula in European folklore. Aside from preying on innocents by sucking their blood, what makes her unique is her ability to split herself in half at midnight, separating her lower body from her winged upper body. At night, she flies and hovers over houses, lurks around the thatched roofs of the poor, and stalks children to feed on.

For me, the Manananggal is a fitting symbol of the political situation in the Philippines today. Her divided body represents the growing unrest and conflict between the North and the South. Mother Nature herself seems torn in two, divided between the bailiwicks of President Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. As Filipinos, we find ourselves confused, caught in the middle. We are the innards, trying to hold together and remain resilient enough not to be torn apart by these conflicts.

As someone who is neutral and has been part of the LGBT community all my life, I see both the good and the bad on each side. These two families, these two factions, once worked together and promised a better Philippines. Now, the way they hurl accusations at one another is shocking and does nothing to help the country.

We can only hope that this will end soon.

Like the Manananggal, before sunrise, the winged upper body must find its lower half, hidden deep in the woods, and reunite, or it will burn in the daylight. If someone finds the lower body first, they can place salt on it, preventing the winged creature from returning. We are the innards trying to keep everything intact, yet we are the most vulnerable in this struggle.

But if we recognize our shared worth and unite our voices as one, we can roar like lions in the wild and finally see who the true power in the country really is.