CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--In celebration of aspiration, imagination, narrative and voice of 35 visual artists, Panit Bukog, now in its 5th year, opened a Mindanao Contemporary Art Exhibit in the Xavier University Museo de Oro and Carmen Art District in Cagayan de Oro City on September 8 and 9 and will travel to the Museo Dipolog in Dipolog City, November 10-11.

Panit Bukog is an exhibition of Mindanao contemporary art and a challenge to Mindanao artists to make works that are present and of the present based on their personal experience and personal insights.

Why is it Panit Bukog?

"You know, panit is skin, and bone is bukog, but at the same time, it asks the question, when a man is reduced to skin and bone, what is left of him? And what is left of him is his soul. And that is what art is all about," Chris Rollo, a member of the curatorial team, shared.

Now in its fifth installment, the exhibit fosters the community of growing visual artists, not just in terms of number but also in terms of coverage of the areas that are involved and the content of the work.

Bea Pascubillo, a visual artist in Iligan City, said, "Art is like a medium; aside from this being a medium, we can send messages to these people, for example, an activist who wants something to convey or deliver. Not everyone is articulate in words, but some are articulate in a way like artworks, through paintings, so it is just a different medium, not just words."

Panit Bukog 5 is the only curated exhibition of Mindanao art from artists from all over Mindanao, from as far as Basilan, Cotabato, Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos, Dipolog, Butuan, Iligan, and Cagayan de Oro.

Meanwhile, the intention of the exhibit is to help the art industry grow in Mindanao.

"One of the reasons why we came up with Panit Bukog was because we wanted to contribute to the improvement of how contemporary art in Mindanao grows and evolves, to go beyond art as aesthetic expression but for art to be a powerful tool, a powerful way of making a change in this world," Rollo said.

The exhibit is supported by various organizations, including the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Department of Trade and Industry Misamis Oriental, and the City Government of Cagayan de Oro under Republic Act No. 11904, or the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act. (JMOR/PIA-10