Legarda Opens Hibla Travelling Exhibition in Lisbon

Senator Loren Legarda today led the official opening of the Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Travelling Exhibition at the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.

Legarda said that this is an offshoot of the National Museum’s Hibla ng Lahing Filipino: The Artistry of Philippine Textiles gallery, which is her brainchild. The first Hibla Travelling Exhibition was held in London in October 2017.

“We have a very rich weaving heritage which we are able to show through the Hibla gallery and the weaving lectures and demonstrations at the National Museum, but we also want to bring it to a wider audience and to Filipinos living abroad,” she said.

The Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Travelling Exhibition in Lisbon titled, “Piña-Seda: Pineapple and Silk Cloth from the Tropics,” was organized by the National Museum of the Philippines, the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon.

Prior to the opening, there were lectures, weaving and embroidery demonstrations and workshops by Anna India Dela Cruz and Nelia Rogano, piña-seda weavers from Kalibo, Aklan, and Marilyn Tobias and Magdalena Rosales, piña-seda embroiderers from Lumban, Laguna.

“The Hibla gallery at the National Museum, the weaving lectures and demonstrations, and this Hiblatravelling exhibit are efforts to celebrate indigenous artistry through textiles, provide more Filipinos the opportunity to discover priceless information about our heritage, and bring the challenge of nurturing our weaving traditions into the national stage, to a wider audience,” said Legarda.

Exhibition viewing for the Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Travelling Exhibition at the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon, Rua Barata Salgueiro 30-3° andar 1250-044 Lisbon, Portugal, will be from March 28 to April 30, 2018, 10:00am to 5:00pm.

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 Senator Loren Legarda.

During the soft opening of the gallery in March 2012, the National Museum also launched theSenator 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 launched the first Hibla regional gallery, the Hibla Iloko at the National Museum Ilocos Regional Museum Complex in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, which was also supported by Legarda.

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

“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 HiblaMuseum. 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.