Sa Ugoy ng Duyan
Artwork by Carlo Magno Vargas
"Time has a way of breaking up our memory into fragments of minuscule pieces. Pieces so fragile and delicate that they get caught up in the winds of time and strewn along the pathway of life, and eventually forgotten. Trying to capture and preserve them within the confines of our mind becomes exceedingly impossible as time goes by, and slowly they begin to vanish for good… buried forever in the past."
I was captivated, amazed and inspired by the artwork made by Carlo Magno Vargas. At first, I thought it was a photo taken by a certain photographer but what surprised me is that it was actually an oil canvass. Aside from its very artistic form, it also have a deeper meaning that most of us can really relate, and that’s what fascinated me the most. While looking at the photo it made me wish that my childhood and my memories of my parents will never fade. I remember those times where my ‘mama’ sing a song for me at our “duyan” just to make me fall asleep/ she always gave me a lullaby.
The picture made me reminisce a lot of things especially during my youth. The art work made me appreciate and identify the personality of the artist itself, even if I don’t know him personally, I salute him for making such masterpiece. It gave a lot of impact to me since most of the time I ignored my parents especially my mom, it was a slap on my face that I should always value my parents, I should always remember that they have played a vital role since when I was a fetus until know that I have grown up. In the picture it was an old man who is carrying a baby, I felt that I am the baby and my grandfather ‘papalo’ is the one carrying me, and it made me missed them more since by the time I’ve entered college, I had limited hours to spend time with them. My ‘LOLO’ have been my father for how many years since my real father wasn’t around. I remember those days when he cuddled me and even take me to school using his vintage bicycle but now due to his old age and illness he is not the same strong man I’ve met before. It made me regret the time I wasted roaming around the beauty of adolescence in the outside world.
The picture also made me realized that my parents are not going any younger thus, I should appreciate them every single day and make some time to bond and jam with them. The white hair of the old man in the photo made me think of my mom’s and lolo’s white hair too, the wrinkles and old aging face made me think of my parents aging face, the rough hands made me realized all the hard works and efforts just to give all the things I need in life. I’m afraid that my parents will get old but it’s inevitable.
Base from the picture, I do agree the idea that the most joyful time for every person without any doubt would be their childhood. Since people are different in many areas, they may have different opinions about the reasons; however, I believe that childhood is the happiest time because first children at that age just like in the artwork do not have any special responsibility, and second they are children and their mind and the way they think completely different from teenagers and adults. In other words, their minds are free. We often get reminded of our childhood days, and get nostalgic, we wish to express our feelings, but then we don’t get the right words to express them and this picture made it possible to voice out our thoughts.
The artwork clearly tells us that regardless of how old our parent’s maybe, even until their aging days, they still care and protect us in their own little ways. And regardless of what age we are right now, we can’t deny the fact that we children, need them most of the time. Despite of maturity, we are still that little baby of our parents who are always dependent and need a care from them. Like most children, I thought my parents were superheroes until I’ve seen this artwork.
The culture of Filipino families was also seen in the picture. Even in our new generation we still value our families above all things. The ‘duyan’ also signifies the simple lives of Filipino families which can still be seen until in the present time. ‘Sa Ugoy ng Duyan’, the title of the artwork is one of the Filipino Lullaby. A lullaby, or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music, usually played for or sung to children. The purposes of lullabies in some societies like in our country are used to pass down cultural knowledge or tradition, thus, this artwork wants to showcase Filipino culture and tradition.
The work of Art also shows how much parents treasure their children. Babies are considered as the most precious gift of God to parents. They mean the world to them. While analyzing the art I can see the LOVE, HAPPINESS AND CARE of a parent to his child and the FREEDOM, INNOCENCE, AND DEPENDENCE of a child to his parent especially during his infancy. The picture shows a strong relationship between a parent and a child. They are always in a mutual relationship because throughout their existence they contribute to each other happiness and fulfillment, they are the ones who made color and brightness in this world full of sorrows and torments.
Lastly, because of the magnificence of this picture it gave me some important lesson as a daughter and as a future parent.
“When I was a little baby my mom would carry me out all day and swing me at our ‘duyan’ just to make me smile and feel protected. She would always tell me this line… “Just close your eyes, fall asleep, I’m by your side.” Now that I have grown up, and she’s going older maybe I can’t cuddle her and swing her to our ‘duyan’ but I can still love her and sing lullaby just to make her important until to the last days of her life.”
