Marian Pastor Roces, an independent curator, and art critic will collaborate with Expo 2020 Dubai to host eight sculptures that will portray the country’s creative self-portrait at every turn during the expo. It is Roces’ vision of a modern and the imaginative Philippines that will be brought to life with the involvement of various local sculptors and visual artists, as they retell the 4,000-year-old origin story of the archipelago.
A large indigo sculpture by Dudley Diaz of a pregnant mythical figure sits serenely at the pavilion entrance as a visitor is greeted. In pre-colonial times, the Bicolano people (an ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines) worshipped the moon deity Haliya, the figure that stands 18 feet tall.
In addition to studying fine arts in Italy and the Philippines, Duddley Diaz combines the values and traditions of his country with those of Renaissance sculpture. In the following chapter, “Haliya”, a great teacher sets the tone.
‘MYSTIQUECROSS’ BY DAN RARALIO: As you approach the entrance plaza, the metal fish adorned with weathered verdigris (an opaque greenish-blue coating on copper surfaces) is suspended. The sea creature resembles a corroding object recovered from the ocean bed. It straddles the boundary between the primordial and the modern simultaneously. The art of Surrealism, Cubism, and Classicism are influences on the work of sculptor and painter Dan Raralio.