Hibla Travelling Exhibition Goes to Singapore  

Deputy Speaker and Antique Congresswoman Loren Legarda invites everyone to the opening of the Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Travelling Exhibition on August 29, 2019, at the Lim Hak Tai Gallery, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 80 Bencoolen Street, Singapore.

The exhibition, titled “Piña-Seda: Pineapple and Silk Cloths from the Tropics,” features raw materials and textiles from piña and silk weaving centers in Aklan and La Union, respectively, and embroidery center in Laguna, Philippines.

“Traditional textiles are ties that bind. It links the past to the present and brings together cultures, which, no matter how diverse, has a commonality,” said Legarda.

“The Hibla gallery, which has blossomed into many other initiatives, is not only an effort to celebrate indigenous artistry through textiles and provide more Filipinos the opportunity to discover priceless information about our heritage, but an attempt to bring the challenge of nurturing our weaving traditions into the national stage, to a wider audience,” she added.

There will be piña fiber scraping, weaving, and embroidery demonstrations by Balete, Aklan piña-seda weavers Raquel Eliserio and Carlo Eliserio, and Lumban, Laguna piña-seda embroiderers Lolita Pereza and Loreto Maestre, Jr. There will also be embroidery workshops and lecture series about the Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Program and the challenges and sustainability of piña-seda weaving in the Philippines.

Singapore is the third Asian destination of the travelling exhibition, following its successful runs in Bangkok, Thailand in July and in Tokyo, Japan in March. This program, in partnership with the National Museum of the Philippines, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Singapore, is part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Philippines-Singapore diplomatic relations.

Legarda said that the travelling exhibition is an offshoot of the Hibla ng Lahing Filipino: The Artistry of Philippine Textiles permanent gallery at the National Museum of Anthropology, which is her brainchild. The first Hibla Travelling Exhibition was held in London in October 2017 and was subsequently opened in different Philippine Service Posts in Asia, Europe and United States of America, namely: Lisbon, Portugal; Madrid, Spain; Frankfurt, Germany; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Hawai’i; Tokyo, Japan; Bangkok, Thailand; Prague, Czech Republic; and San Francisco.

The Hibla Travelling Exhibition will run from August 30 to October 06. The Lim Hak Tai Gallery is open from 11:00 AM to 07:00 PM and is closed on Mondays.

About Hibla Textile Gallery

The Hibla ng Lahing Filipino: The Artistry of Philippine Textiles at the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila is the country’s first permanent textile gallery. It is a project spearheaded by Congresswoman Loren Legarda.

During the soft opening of the gallery in March 2012, the National Museum of the Philippines also launched the Senator Loren Legarda Lecture Series on Philippine Traditional Textiles and Indigenous Knowledge, which explores the aesthetics, material culture and processes of ethnic identity along with skills and information-generation through fabric. It later evolved into interactive lectures and demonstrations featuring weavers and embroiderers from different parts of the country.

In July 2017, the National Museum of the Philippines launched the first Hibla regional gallery, the “Abel Iloko” at the Ilocos Regional Museum and Satellite Office in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, which was also supported by Legarda. In December 2018, the National Museum of the Philippines also launched the “Habol Panay: The Woven Artistry of Western Visayas,” a permanent textile gallery at the NM Western Visayas Regional Museum and Satellite Office in Iloilo City.

In October 2017, the first Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Travelling Exhibition was held at the Philippine Embassy in London.

“We will have more Hibla travelling exhibitions and many more Hibla regional galleries will soon rise in our country, and we hope that someday we will have not only galleries, but one whole Hibla Museum. Through these we hope to promote greater support for cultural enterprises and creative industries of our indigenous peoples and deeper appreciation of our heritage,” said Legarda.***