We are so excited to have launched our first ever print design! In my creative discussions with our in-house artist, Chesleigh Nofiel (previously Alaga At Sining), I was always talking about the sampaguita as a motif. Since the beginning, Chesleigh has always challenged my choices, asked me questions, and always surprised me with his very unique and very Filipino-living-in-the-homeland perspective. And for a long time, he did not want to touch the sampaguita. He said that it's "sagad" which can be translated colloquially as "maxed out". It is very typical, since it is the national flower, after all. So Chesleigh took his time to conceptualize a sampaguita motif that would not be typical, and as a Creative Director, I love being able to give him that space because I know that he would come up with something absolutely brilliant. And he did.
Chesleigh Nofiel's Artist Statement
The Sampaguita blooms at night and wilts within the day. I seek to bring into the consciousness and conversation with this textile design the spectre of colonialism and its insidious conditioning as analogous to an intoxicating and menacing supernatural power or witchery subconsciously haunting us even at the present.
Chesleigh Nofiel's initial sampaguita motif study
According to Eulogio B. Rodriguez the Legend of the Sampaguita: The Filipino National Flower (1930), claims that the flower’s name comes from the line “Sumpa Kita” which translates to both mean a curse, and a vow or romantic promise. Not only does the Sampaguita as a State emblem embody how the botanical can be imbued with political meaning, deployed, and performed in conjunction with the codes of State rhetoric, the double entendre in the alleged origin of the flower’s name also succinctly encapsulates the very nature and curse of colonialism, whose spirit still permeates our lands, bodies, and consciousness.
The Sumpa Kita print is intentionally designed for breaking the cycle of ancestral and emotional trauma. Featuring the allegory of the endemic Duméril's Wolf Snake (Lycodon dumerilii) and the iconic national flower, Sampaguita (Jasminum sambac), digitally painted and ominously patterned to symbolize our awakening and breaking the curse of colonial mentality.
Sumpa Kita Panuelo Design
For the epic Sumpa Kita Panuelo design, Chesleigh decided to approach it like an anting-anting or talisman, like our Pamanang Paniniwala design; for the purpose of surfacing the subconscious colonial conditioning to the fore.
The Sumpa Kita panuelo is also intentionally designed for breaking the cycle of ancestral and emotional trauma, digitally painted with mga sumpa (vows) to catalyze our awakening and breaking the curse of colonial mentality.
Kontra Kapitalismo: Anti-Capitalism
Kontra Pasismo: Anti-Fascism
Kontra Korupsyon: Anti-Corruption
Kontra Pandarambong - Anti-Plunder
Kontra Katatagan: Anti-Squalor
Kontra Patriyarka: Anti-Patriarchy
Kontra Pang-aapi: Anti-Abuse
Kontra Diskrimisnayon: Anti-Discrimination
Kontra Kolonyalismo: Anti-Colonialism
