It was the end of the road, a stone filled path after the cemented bit. A weather beaten grayish brown fence with bouganvilla post on the side. There was no doorbell and I was not sure if "tao po" was the right thing to say in this part of the country when you go calling on other poeples houses. It was the youngest daughter Is, who was running out the front door with her stuffed toy rabbit whom I caught the attention as I peered on top of the wooden gate. She showed me in and I was immediately enchanted by the surroundings. It was not a landscaped garden that welcomed but the elements were there for a truly artistic surrounding. It was the details that go into each rock, flower and tree arranged with a spirit of creativity. The front door opens to a pond with waterlilies and carp, often a subject of the host Lorna Fernandez paintings.
We first met her in a family exhibit when we bought paintings for a new office space. The paintings were done by their youngest daughter a road leading to a house and kids floricking in a swimming pool. They were perfect for the kids clinic we were opening. Her husband, Edwin Jumalon was the featured artist in the Ateneo de Zamboanga Gallery last month where large abstract paintings were exhibited.
The house was a virtual gallery of their works. The walls and ceilings of every room contain pieces from previous exhibitions. Amihan's women are in perfect silhouettes juxtapoused into scenes like the crucifixion, but her recent works convey the hardships of bringing up a child. A mother giving birth. A mother giving her child a bath. A mother breastfeeding. The usual romanticized images of a mother and her child were distorted to show that in reality it is a difficult relationship. There were the old terracota series of Lorna Fernandez showing dream images of childhood which I hope I could afford someday.
She lead us into other rooms then into the dining area which is the most beautiful part of the house. The room looks out into a flowing river and a curtain of yellow bamboo along its bank serves as a wind breaker but allows one to view the rice fields across. The walls were covered with works by each member of the family. The ceiling showed large works by Amihan showing women in gothic achetypes. A pieta by Edwin hung on a post by a grilled window and some of his abstract paintings. Lorna's quintessential rose and other flowers adorn other parts of the room. She showed us her new works a red rose and an unfinished phaneolopsis piece which she remarked differ from the previous pieces because she used the style of her only son where paint is mized with glue and detailed swirls are etched into the painting.
Then the secret was revealed. All these time we were amazed with all the artists we have met in Zamboanga, but here was an important vibrant artist which Zamboanga have not yet discovered. Its very own Winner Jumalon. Her mother showed us his early pieces hung on the dining and kitchen room walls. A mother with a seemingly sick child, fighting cocks with large feet and a huge cemetary piece with his early style which won a Japanese painting exhibition. She brought out the Asian magazines which featured Winner and catalogues of his international exhibits. She said he was mostly into portraitures now, his style distorting portraits. And she showed us a copy of the Winner's Bencab portrait. It was in a magazine along with the works of Orlina and other contemporary Filipino artists. We were flabbergasted.
There we were in a humid exhibition hall by the sea. We have taken quick snaps of the paintings but were dicussing into buying a terracota sculpture of a women with a flower on her breast. Ms. Fernandez recognized us from our previous meeting and we talked about her sculptures. It was a very untactful to invite one's self into somebody else's house. But we asked if we can see other works at her studio and she invited us to her house.
There were a lot of beautiful things in her home. And I said to myself if I am going to have a house it will be a bit that way. It is one of the most beautiful homes I have visited in Zamboanga. As we were on our good-byes, I decided on the red rose. I still have to arrange the purchase of Lorna's sculpture at the local gallery which was tagged sold under my name. It was drizzling and we ran from the front door to the car revelling at what we have experienced.
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