Works by Josephine Turalba

I am continuously intrigued by the struggle of wealth and power

brought about by war and peace, in particular how victims of violence

are only ‘collateral damage’ in the race for control, whether one is for

or against a ‘gun culture’ that continues to proliferate. I investigate

notions of crossing boundaries, private property, disparities in power

and technology amongst human societies. The violence that claimed

the lives of 12 French journalists early in 2015, ostensibly in the

name of religion, is anathema to these universally held values of

liberty, equality and brotherhood—concepts which are part of the

fundamental tenets of all Abrahamic religions. Such repeated acts of

radicalism instigate research questions that link very much to Okui

Enwezor’s proposition of proposed futures of our world, questions

that direct my work: How are we to exist today? Do we not live in the

age of reason? Are those acts due to the subjection to impunity for

centuries, that today one ought to raise the level of humanity and

take personal grievances to democratic processes? After all, does

democracy offer solutions better than any other?

In my two-part installation Scandals III: Walk With Me, I explore some

of these questions. Indoor slippers in many Asian cultures, better

known in its local term as Alfombra, (derived from Spanish) are most

comfortable, durable and colorful footwear when inside one’s home.

The Asian practice of leaving outdoor shoes at the door is still

observed today, psychologically conscious and symbolic of stepping

into an altered level of someone’s private space and perhaps even

psychosomatically an invitation to restore and relax. The concepts of

the ‘interior’ versus ‘exterior’ communicate boundaries of space

within the social, cultural, psychological and political spectrum.

During a research period at the Lopez Memorial Museum, I worked

with a collection of 4 x 5 inch glass photo negatives of the Philippines

in the 1930s. They document Filipinos in this period. The collection

consisting of anthropological photographs clearly recognized the

‘colonial gaze,’ as well as trade along the Pasig River, coming to and

from Laguna de Bay and the Manila Bay. This is reminiscent of Pag -

daong, a colloquial term referring to docking of a boat. The ‘docking’

of foreigners in our islands echoes on, as it did once upon a time in

Colonial history as these pictures illustrate.

Scandals III: Walk With Me offers an experiential happening episode

for the viewer. I invite them to ‘walk with me’, by wearing a pair of

sandals offered at a particular choreographed point of the space.

This act of walking, or sharing the walk, is hence simulating a

moment that sheds a partial regard on a colonial strategy, an integral

part of the history of the Philippines, a space/land that hosted some

indigenous people who are the actual owners of the land, and who

have been exploited by colonial powers for centuries. The symbol of

the sandals has different influences from colonizers—Spanish, Japa-

nese, American and/or Chinese—, as well as those who engaged with

trade with South East Asia, the Philippines include

Done