Toym Imao and a History Uninterrupted

This is the unedited article I wrote for a UK-based magazine in 2021, but it never saw print after the publication folded. I have long been enchanted by artists whose work speaks for humanity – artists who inspire us not to forget our roots while confronting the future with moral force and vision. Filipino visual artist Toym Imao’s art installations as visual storytellers of the dark past, enlightened present

Memory of resistance

As Irish author Oscar Wilde put it, “To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development.” Such is the tragedy of denial. Yet moving on from historical wounds, conflicts, or shame often leads to avoidance and forgetting, until patterns emerge and old issues return. In national histories, negationism distorts collective memory and turns villains into heroes. Confronting the darker episodes of the past is one way of bringing closure to that chapter.

Piecing together historical fragments into public art installations, multi-awarded Filipino multimedia artist and sculptor Abdulmari “Toym” de Leon Imao espouses discussion of the Philippines’ social, political and cultural history.

Toym, who is currently the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, created Barikada (Barricade), a large-scale mixed-media installation at the said institution, marking the golden anniversary of the Diliman Commune, the student-led uprising in 1971. The installation was sited at Oblation Plaza in early February of 2021, close to the actual spot where militant students set up the barricades.

“It was not intended to be ‘political’, but at the time we were mounting it, the country’s national defence announced that it was unilaterally terminating the accord that restricts state forces from entering the campus without permission from the University administration,” Toym says, explaining how Barikada, initially a commemorative work, metamorphosed into protest art.

Barikada consists of bamboo, old furniture found within the campus, and salvaged parts from his previous 2020 installation titled Nagbabadyang Unos (Gathering Storm). The latter, a suspended artwork memorialising the First Quarter Storm in 1970, turned out to foreshadow a modern-day maelstrom: the pandemic lockdown. Toym shares that on the day the piece was being dismantled, the lockdown was announced.

Barikada, painted in rouge red, forms two columns, appearing especially from a distance, as juxtaposed towering pyres in a raging blaze, thereby echoing the turbulent environments of the 1970s.

Toym finds it surreal that the installation coincided with the termination of the UP–DND accord. “It is like history repeating itself,” he says.

Word of the installation soon seared through social media. “As it went ‘viral’, we were heavily ‘trolled’ by naysayers. That is why, for the past three weeks, we were trying to keep these trolls at bay,” Toym explains.

Barikada is one half of a two-part ephemeral installation titled enKWENTrO (Encounter). The other half, Muebles (Furniture), is an assemblage of around 50 repurposed classroom tables, desks, and chairs. The furniture pieces are embedded with relief and freestanding sculptural elements “to represent narratives from events leading to the Diliman Commune,” Toym explains.

At the time of the interview Toym was in talks for staging another installation “to honour the fallen front liners in the line of duty during the Covid-19 pandemic”. He was also preparing for a series of works and an installation at the University grounds “to address the fifth year of the (infamous) drug war as a commentary” in June; and in 2022, for an installation to recollect the Martial Law declaration in the country, five decades ago.

The artist is a storyteller

Toym owes his rich aesthetic grounding to his father, National Artist for Sculpture (2006) Abdulmari Asia Imao, and his mother, Grace de Leon. Toym also counts among his artistic influences prominent figures such as Luis E. Yee, regarded as a pioneer of installation art in the Philippines; National Artist for Literature (2003) Alejandro R. Roces; National Artist for Sculpture (1976) Napoleon V. Abueva; and filmmaker and director Marilou Diaz-Abaya, among his artistic influences.

A sculptor and painter working in both classical and contemporary styles, Toym received formal training at the UP, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree in fine arts. He is also a writer and filmmaker.

Over the years of his practice, his art has evolved from traditional monument-building in the Philippines to more experimental and contemporary forms, incorporating pop art in his recent works.

A Fulbright scholar, he earned a master’s degree in Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). He also completed a two-year artist residency at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore.

He went back to the Philippines in 2013 for a break. One time, while hatching an idea for his new piece, he went on what he calls a “serendipity walk.” “It is merely aimless walking,” he says. While pacing around the university’s academic oval, he came upon the steps of the Arts and Sciences Building. It struck him as the perfect venue for his art. “It’s free. I only had to ask permission to use it for my public artwork,” he says.

On that unlikely venue, Toym showcased his sculpture titled Head of State in commemoration of the sesquicentennial anniversary of Andres Bonifacio, a revolutionary figure during the 19th-century Spanish colonial period. The 92 x 36 x 60-inch fiberglass and galvanised iron sculpture depicted a pair of headless figures, each holding a ballot box containing a decapitated head of Bonifacio.

Finally deciding to settle in the Philippines in 2014, Toym continued his teaching career and practice in public art.

“I literally had to re-establish myself again as an artist, “exclaims Toym, whose works can be found in major cities in the Philippines, Vietnam, the US, and Europe.

“You know, when you’re out of the art scene for four years, that’s a big thing. There are plenty of young and brilliant artists that can fill in the gap in terms of accessing the galleries and museums here, “he states, matter-of-factly. He then decided to take the leap of faith by producing more public art works, and since then, has never looked back.

Voltes V as icon of dissent

Of the many artworks he has created, his 2014 piece titled Last Lost Lust for Four Episodes (Voltes V) is particularly personal. The Japanese robot animated television series Voltes V was cancelled barely a year after its broadcast in 1978, with its final four episodes never aired. The reason, as many speculated, was its alleged “seditious” themes. Toym says he was around 10 years old at the time, and reconstructing Voltes V as a 108 x 86 x 48-inch installation made of fibreglass, brass, and galvanised iron was a deeply personal process.

”I literally beg, stole and borrowed, in order to come up with that particular work, and put it out there, “ Toym muses.

Indeed, the installation sparked a social media frenzy when a photographer took pictures of the artwork and posted them on his Instagram account. Shortly afterward, local newspapers also published photographs of Barikada, along with stories of the show’s premature ending. These were later shared on social media, eliciting both “woke” sentiments and cynicism.

“I told myself, I can do an alternative imaging of the history and retell stories through my public art installation, “ Toym says. “I am a storyteller and I use various media in order to deliver my narratives. I think I would consider myself as someone who is flexible in terms of accepting all modes of expression, may it be in the visual arts or working as set designer for theatres or production designer for films. Whatever it takes to effectively convey a theme or story, I am willing to experiment,” he says.

Portal for discussion

A vital aspect of Toym’s artwork is that it allows spectators to react with love, hate, awe, or contempt, depending on their political standpoint, and to engage through inquiry and discourse.

“The kind of artwork that I do, does not provide answers: it cannot be a catharsis of a particular point of our history. Rather, it would elicit more questions, more curiosity. They are portals to further enquiry and that is what we intend when we come up with a particular artwork, “ Toym furthers.

According to him, he hopes to convey that art, more than social imagery, is an effective platform for expressing cultural and historical narratives.

“ People talk about (the artwork) – they may not agree with it but the discourse it creates, especially on social media, is very important for us because it becomes an opportunity to discuss that particular point in our history; it pulls it out from the depths of the forgotten realms of that point in our history.“

“They are either forgotten or put aside so this brings them out to the open for people to have a discussion about it. And whether they agree or not, the point is that we caught their attention, and hopefully, they will ask questions,” he concludes.

Visit his website to learn more about Toym Imao

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