22 Nov Telling Truer Stories for Safe and Legal Abortion II
Telling Truer Stories is an initiative to shape a healthier perception of stories of abortion through showcasing various truths about abortion in the Philippines in different art forms.
In the Philippines, more than 600,000 abortions happen every year. Every day, around 3 women die due to abortion complications. The campaign aims to fill the lack of artwork that depicts abortion in a truer way – that does not adhere to the clichés and stereotypes that have been the default of mainstream media, perpetuating the stigma, myths, and misconceptions about abortion.
The entries are curated by the following judges:
VISUAL ART
Isobel Francisco is a Filipina visual artist. Since her first group show in December 2011, she has exhibited in Hong Kong, China, and various corners of Metro Manila, and she has been kindly featured on some print and online publications. Her works currently involve figurative tensions and narratives of anguish, loss, and the constant examination of what constitutes humanity.
Mek Yambao is a visual artist based in Parañaque, Philippines. She makes oil paintings on wood that uses layers and textures. Her delicate yet weighted imagery uses experiences in her own life. Reflections on feminism, identity, language, and post-colonization are most apparent in her work.
Her exhibitions ‘May I Have Your Attention Please’ (2017) addresses the visibility of women and going against their culturally assigned roles, while ‘Is This How You See Me?’ (2019) is an examination of what do we allow to be seen reflecting on identity and perception. She works towards multiculturalism and continues to develop her visual language to create more immersive art.
Kay Aranzanso is a Manila-based illustrator and designer. In April 2010, she graduated Cum Laude from the College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines, Diliman obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Visual Communication. She received theU.P. C.F.A. 2010 Thesis Grant and was awarded Best in Research for her thesis.
From 2008-2009, she served as Chairperson of the U.P. League of University Artists on Cartoons and Komiks (U.P. LUNAROCK) and as Vice Chairperson for External Affairs the year after.
In March 2012, she became an official member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan and has been an active member ever since.
Alice Sarmiento is a writer and independent curator based in Quezon City, Philippines. She has recently written for Ideas, the journal of the Asia Art Archive, and for Schloss-post as a fellow in Cultural Journalism at the Akademie Schloss-Solitude. Her most recent exhibit was a feminist lensed retrospective for the centennial of National Artist Francisco V. Coching.
Marevic “Bing” Parcon is the Executive Director of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR). She has over two decades of experience in working on gender issues and SRHR advocacy.
SHORT VIDEO
Sharmila Parmanand is a PhD Candidate in Gender Studies and Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge. Her dissertation looks at the effect of anti-trafficking interventions on sex workers in the Philippines. She has a masters in Gender and Development from the University of Melbourne and previously lectured at the University of Vermont and Ateneo de Manila.
Ana Maria “Princess” Nemenzo, a feminist and socio-political activist, is a founder and National Coordinator of WomanHealth Philippines, which was established in 1987 to promote women’s rights to reproductive self-determination, health and development. She actively took part in the 14-year struggle for the passage of the Reproductive Health Law.
She was the first Vice-Charperson for the Basic Sector of the National Anti-Poverty Commission and a past President of the Freedom from Debt Coalition. Currently she serves as the Lead Convenor of the Philippine campaign movement
DIGNIDAD that vigorously calls for “Life of Dignity for All!” through transformative social protection with regard to rights to employment, health, education, housing, food and public services.
Spanning more than five decades of activism, Ms. Nemenzo has espoused and been involved in the struggles for human rights, women's rights, gender equality, social and economic justice, participatory democracy and peace.
Dustin Celestino is a film director, and a multi-awarded fiction writer, screenwriter, playwright, and composer. In 2017, he won FIRST PRIZE in both divisions (English & Filipino) of the Full-Length Play category of the Carlos Palanca Awards for his plays, “Ang Pangahas na si Pepe Rodriguez,” and “The Story of this Father.”
Emilie Batard is a Manila-based creative. She joined TBWA in 2013 as one of the original film directors in the production department. With a background in journalism, Emilie has engaged in many projects from producing documentaries, viral videos, commercial content, digital & analog photography and live reporting. She is now a co-founder of Baked Studios with 4 other partners. They built an 850 sqm shooting facility for shoots and events.
Nica Dumlao is a feminist activist who has been involved in the social justice movement since 2002. She is currently Digital Rights Manager of EngageMedia, an organization working on the intersection of video, technology, and social justice in Southeast Asia. She has led several digital rights initiatives in the region and has been an Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance fellow twice. She has also been a member of the International Planning Committee of the Association of Women’s Rights in Development Forum in 2016 and co-organized the Feminist Internet Exchange hub in Brazil. She is currently Board Secretary of ASEAN SOGIE Caucus.
CREATIVE NON-FICTION
Nicole Curato is a sociologist. She is the editor of the book Duterte Reader: Critical Essays on Rodrigo Duterte’s Early Presidency (2017, Ateneo Press) and the author of Democracy in a Time of Misery: From Spectacular Tragedy to Deliberative Action (2019, Oxford University Press). She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Canberra and Resident Sociologist of CNN Philippines.
Katrina Stuart Santiago is an independent writer of the essay in its various permutations, from creative non-fiction, to art, theater and movie reviews, from popular iconographies to culture criticism, all bound to Third World Philippines. She has written for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, GMA News Online, The Manila Times, Art+ Magazine, and CNN Philippines, and currently maintains an independent review website gaslight.online. She teaches multimedia writing, content development, and art history at the Multimedia Arts Department, School of Design and the Arts, College of Saint Benilde. She released her first book of creative non-fiction, Of Love And Other Lemons, in 2012. In 2017, her two books of edited and curated critical essays, Rebellions: Notes on Independence and Romances: Variations on Love, was published the Ateneo de Naga Press. She won second prize in the Essay Category of the Palanca Awards in 2008. She writes at www.katrinasantiago.com, and is @radikalchick online.
Danny Fabella is an activist poet/songwriter/performer. Most of his works depict the life and struggle of the toiling masses. He used to be a member of Tambisan sa Sining, a trade union-based cultural group, for ten years.
He had won several awards in poetry, play and songs. Among his major works are the songs Rosas ng Digma and Anak ng Bayan. He also produced eight albums He has attended and performed in several artists’ conferences and festivals in various countries such as Australia, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, Japan, Germany and Belgium.
He shares his experiences by actively conducting songwriting training and workshop in communities, schools and factories. He is a member of Musikangbayan.
Luz Francess Chua, or “Bicbic” to friends and colleagues, is Executive Director of the Catholics for Reproductive Health (C4RH), a faith-based NGO that promotes RH as human right and social justice concern. C4RH envisions a fellowship of Filipino Catholics living in harmony with their faith, health, and rights. As a passionate advocate for the marginalized and powerless, she worked with various organizations that promoted the rights and welfare of women, farmers, and students. She also co-founded the Women’s Legal Education, Advocacy, and Defense (WomenLEAD) Foundation, Inc. a feminist organization providing legal services, training and advocacy support for women. She is a member of the Gender and Development (GAD) Resource Pool of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW)–accredited to provide technical assistance as an expert in gender and development and gender mainstreaming in government agencies and units.
Red Tani has advocated critical thinking, evidence-based legislation, religious freedom, and other human rights since 2009 when he founded Filipino Freethinkers. Their advocacy has been featured in Philippine and international media, receiving awards such as the Globe Tatt award and the Rappler Do More award.
His advocacy continues as a representative in the RH Law national implementation team, as a founding member of Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network, and as part of various organizations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, feminism and gender equality, and freedom of speech and religion.
Passionate about the power of stories and storytelling for advocacy, he shares fiction-based techniques for writing, speaking, and presenting in lectures and workshops around the Philippines.