Kapatagan
After building his creations at the Vatican Nativity scene at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, artist Kublai Millan decided to go back to his homeland in Mindanao and give something back to the local community.
Kublai bought the vast land to build his latest series of artwork, but vowed to preserve the culture and beliefs of the hard working indigenous folk who once roamed the rural area.
And because his work largely touches on the earth as a “land for all people,” the cost of viewing the installation is completely free.
“Earth” is the first word you see when trekking through Kapatagan. Plant life flourishes from the inside of each letter, matching the greenery of the entire area—the white outlines of the letters protruding out of the soil, as if each line had naturally grown up from our world and just so happened to spell out the name of our planet.
A dozen larger-than-life statues of indigenous figures gather themselves near the letters, captivated by its powerful energy.
At a distance they look like they’re dancing in unison, prancing around the word and commemorating its existence.But inch closer down the valley and see that they’re all doing some sort of labor to give back to the land, mindfully doing their part to keep the earth thriving.
The figures are frozen mid-action—harvesting the land, offering bowls of fruit to their gods, playing instruments, and pouring water on our precious land.
Each part of the installation serves the earth in its own way to be mindful of our world, reminding us that hey, maybe we should live our own lives this way, too.
Most of the statues don’t have distinct faces, making what they stand for more universal.
Everyone is doing their own part in that world and yet they are still all equal and working in harmony to preserve something that they are all a part of.
Everyone is doing their part and working together, just as it should be.