THROUGH the decades, artists have found success thanks to the mentorship and sponsorship of supporters who believed in them. But more often than not, such opportunities were given to men.
With the theme “Women Power,” the first Sining Filipina national art competition opened for submissions with the goal of giving female artists their time in the spotlight.
“For millennia, art has been dominated by the worldview of men. It is said that women hold half the sky, so I think it’s just right that women be given a chance to show their worldview in a meaningful way,” said Joanne Zapanta-Andrada, vice-president of the Zonta Club of Makati and Environs (ZCME), at the press launch on Jan. 10.
For its first edition, Sining Filipina is only accepting oil and acrylic entries for Figurative and Non-Figurative categories. Participants are tasked to showcase their perspectives on the contemporary woman through their entries.
The competition is open to Filipinas based in the Philippines, regardless of age and status.
“We realized there really is an underserving of women artists. We wanted to do this three years ago but the pandemic happened. Now that things are more or less settled, we jumped on the opportunity,” Ms. Zapanta-Andrada said.
ZCME is part of the global organization Zonta International, which seeks to uplift the lives of women. Its co-organizers for the competition, BDO Unibank, Inc. and SM Supermalls, are involved as part of their commitments to champion the talents of Filipino women.
The judges of the competition have yet to be announced. More details and calls for entries will be publicized by BDO and SM branches nationwide.
Ms. Zapanta-Andrada explained that women have always been seen as “the muses of artists.”
“It’s always about the beauty, but we like to think that women have much more than just physical beauty, that they’re more than objects. So, we’d like to see how women see themselves,” she said.
The deadline for entries is on Jan. 31. The first-place winner will receive a cash prize of P250,000.
For the full mechanics, visit https://zontaclubme.com/sining-filipina/. — Brontë H. Lacsamana