“Protektahan ang Kamusmusan,” by Chary Mercado, is set to open March 14 in Apartment 1-B restaurant in Arya Plaza, BGC
If art had a high season in Manila, it would definitely be in February and March as there are a plethora of exhibits catering to every kind of art collector and enthusiast in the metropolis. Beginning March 14, however, there is a very different kind of art exhibit opening in Apartment 1-B restaurant in Arya Plaza, BGC.
Entitled “Protektahan ang Kamusmusan,” the exhibit takes the name of the campaign of Chary Mercado, child rights advocate, who produced in 2023 a series of comics in Tagalog that teaches children how to identify and fight back against sexual predators and traffickers. The first comics series was launched in Art Fair Philippines 2023 in the Istorya booth of Marina Cruz and Rodel Tapaya. This year, to finance the printing of an expanded edition of the comics, Mercado is again tapping artists and various creative spirits to exhibit their works and call attention to this urgent social problem.
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“The pandemic gave many of us ‘regular people’ the time and space to exercise some kind of latent creativity we never attended to before. In my case, I started making comics for children in Tagalog. For other people, it was painting, crocheting, writing books—I invited many of these pandemic artists to also exhibit their work as their personal way to support the campaign. I’m so touched that they all responded so enthusiastically.”
The exhibit is anchored by a donation of 13 works by Jamesy Lee, a 21-year-old artist with autism from California. Lee’s work, mostly acrylic on canvas, has been exhibited in the famed De Young Museum and in the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and has also been featured in several local TV news shows in the US. To supplement his works, Mercado invited several creative friends of hers to also donate their works to show support for the advocacy.
“The pandemic gave many of us ‘regular people’ the time and space to exercise some kind of latent creativity we never attended to before,” Mercado said. “In my case, I started making comics for children in Tagalog. For other people, it was painting, crocheting, writing books—I invited many of these pandemic artists to also exhibit their work as their personal way to support the campaign. I’m so touched that they all responded so enthusiastically,” she added.
The artists who have donated work are Angela Panlilio, Joy Siao, Richard Manuel, Krie and Emma Lopez, Maricel and Natalia Abad, Jheng Marzan, Crisanta de Guzman, Zoe Sy, Nida Cranbourne, and her many friends from the Saturday group. A collaboration piece between two young artists from the Autism Society and their art mentor, Tia Siy, will also be up for sale.
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At the exhibit, there will be gift items for sale such as coasters and water tumblers that carry the iconic Filipino people painted by Joanna Duarte, and Gem Manosa’s book “Under the Aratiles Tree” that captures a child’s life in Manila in the 70s. Manosa also made a blue and white collection of crocheted coasters especially for the exhibit.
According to an extensive research study done by the International Justice Mission, 471,000 Filipino children appeared in new sexually exploitative videos in 2022 alone. The comics, which have been translated into Ilongo and Cebuano, are read out by public school teachers and given away for free to children nationwide. To extend the reach of the educational comics, however, Mercado is raising funds to have the stories professionally animated so they can be shared online and be accessible to children who cannot read.
