BULL HANDLER Print

MIJAN JUMALON comes from a family of painters from the southern part of the Philippines in Mindanao. She has spent 3 decades as a visual artist and has had numerous art exhibitions launched in many parts of the country in Manila, Davao, Cebu, as well as abroad, in Rome and in Singapore. Mijan Jumalon has embraced the female form in her 30 years of painting and have seldom departed from it. It is her anchor, beacon, and starting point. Though her works often interconnect with feminist social issues, her figures are more representative of the earnest exploration and elevation of the rituals of womanhood. Her latest series of works—BAGGAGE REVOLUTION—form a multiptych, an entire landscape of forked pathways pushing their way through the crimson prairie. The environment and its residents approximate an almost Boschian performance with its subjects enacting a melancholy gathering. There is a scattering of figures in owl masks (a Bosch motif) that lends an occultic feel to these paintings. There is, however, no narrational structure formed nor themes of moral struggle. The environment is not a garden of earthly delight but rather a realm where everyone is waiting for something to end or something to begin. In 2019, Mijan began venturing into production design and film-making. Her first short documentary entitled, MAGLABAY RA IN SAKIT (a Tausug phrase which roughly translates to “this pain will pass”)—which showcases the spirit and resilience of RKJun, a young rap musician in Zamboanga City—has won several BEST FILM awards in national film festivals since its production year in 2019. OLA (2020), her first narrative short film, has been awarded BEST SHORT FILM in the 44th Gawad Urian 2021. In 2020, the said film also won BEST TECHNICAL award during its world premiere in the Philippines at the Cinemarya Film Festival. Recently this year, during the Zamboanga Film Festival, OLA took home 4 awards namely: BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SCREENPLAY, and BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN.