Project Hulmahan: Hope Lasts includes Marz Today as one of its 700+ artists participating in its first exhibition titled “Hope Lasts.” Project Hulmahan is a fundraising exhibition that aims to provide food security for the shoe-making communities affected by the 2020 Metro Manila lockdown.
My contribution to Project Hulmahan “Saan gawa yan?” is made from stamp carving remnants. Last year I started collecting stamp-carving remnants and collecting them with no end-goal in mind, except with the thought of being mindful of the waste my work produces.
This is a sentiment that Project Hulmahan is acting on by repurposing shoe lasts from Marikina shoe factories that have shut down during the pandemic. Saan gawa yan? is a common question I get asked about my stamps. I carve stamps from rubber erasers or synthetic rubber, a softer version of the Marikina Rubber sole.
Rubber sole, the same material used for shoes, is what local handmade rubber stamp businesses use. Handmade stamp services are often offered in kiosks that offer key duplication so a lot of the action happens behind the scenes. Occasionally, stamp-makers strategically position their workstations on the sidewalk to take advantage of the natural light which doubles as an opportunity to showcase their process. These side-walk kiosks allow the public to see the intricacies of stamp-making, particularly how precision is observed while cutting a tough material like rubber soles using surgical blades.
The plight of Marikina’s shoe-making artisans tugs hard at my heart because, like the local stamp-making industry, their intricate work tends to go unnoticed. At the heart of Marikina’s uniqueness is its shoe-making industry, it is also a primary source of the materials that handmade stamp artisans use. They are one of the greatly affected industries by the 2020 lockdown which Project Hulmahan hopes to support.
The organizers of this exhibition have tapped over 700 artists to transform shoe lasts into art pieces saving them from becoming firewood or rubbish. Sales from this project go to help provide food security for Marikina’s shoe-making communities.
The exhibition “Hope Lasts” symbolically opens on March 15, the day the Metro Manila lockdown was announced. The exhibition can be viewed on the 4th floor of Estancia Mall (By the cinemas) in Pasig City until April 9, 2020
Project Hulmahan Hope Lasts Exhibit
Read more about the project on their website. For updates on the schedule of events please visit their Facebook page.
To commission me for non-stamp work, you may contact me here.
