Michael Bacol

As a struggling artist in a third world country, I am exposed to extreme poverty and hardship in the day-to-day lives of my countrymen. From street children to mothers bearing infants begging in the middle of the streets, to cripples and incapacitated taking up their permanent begging stations outside the church doors, these are the daily realities which confront all of us here in my small city. But I am not sure if people actually “see” these realities and “feel” for this, or if these remain “unseen” and are taken for granted as everyone has his or her own problem to deal with.
This is the reality that I usually depict in my artworks. In some of my works, however, despite the extreme poverty that I am able to convey, I sometimes inject a mood of lightness, cheerfulness, and hope in the faces of these subjects in the mundane and simple activities that they perform.
As the whole world is aware, the Philippines is a poor nation. Our economy is in shambles and the poor are getting poorer every day. The majority of its citizens being Catholics, this is the very foundation of its people’s strength- thru prayers in the hope that life will get better, sooner or later. Thus, some of my works likewise infuse both poverty and religion, in an effort to capture this essence of life in my city.