As February has been designated as National Arts Month, it is that time of year again for art events galore to grace the metropolis’ events scene. One of those events would be a recent art month favorite, the Art Fair Philippines which is now on its 3rd year.
Held from February 5 to 8, the event transformed the upper levels of The Link Carpark Building into two leveled art fair cum art gallery as various artists and art galleries from around the metro made their presence with some new artwork this year.
When the Japanese occupied Manila in January 1942, they took control of the then-newly established campus of University of Santo Tomas in the city’s Sampaloc district. With such a large tract of property and the large structures there that were already standing by that time, notably the UST Main Building and the old Education Building, (now occupied by the UST Hospital) the Japanese decided to convert the campus into an the Santo Tomas Internment Camp.
the open area at the UST Main Building was filled with makeshift shelters made by the internees (from Wikipedia)
The Japanese rounded up about 4,000 foreign individuals, mostly American and British nationals who were deemed as “hostile aliens” by the Japanese and isolated them in the different buildings in the campus, most notably the Main Building. With that, the Santo Tomas Internment Camp was the largest internment camp the Japanese set up during the war; the internees organized themselves as an effort to make do of the situation. At first, the internment wards gave the prisoners some relative freedom so visitors could come and give them needed goods, not to mention some intelligence information, along the way. But as the tide of war was turning against Japan, the prisoners were given harsher treatment which was coupled by a shortening food supply which has resulted into malnourishment, if not death, among the internees. Such were the state of things as February 1945 entered.
It was that time of the year that photographers of all levels of expertise look forward to, especially those based in or near the metropolis. Yup, Photoworld Asia was upon us last January 29 to February 3 at the Glorietta Activity Center.
As more and more Filipinos are going into photography in one way or another, whether taking a simple photo on a mobile phone to upload to Instagram or shoot with one of those DSLR cameras that have become more affordable in recent years, the growth and increasing importance on a fair like this cannot be emphasized well enough.
As an average level-type of photographer who does it mainly for this site as well as for personal consumption and study, I was one of those who was looking forward to check out this event and see what this year’s event has to offer.
Not many realize it but this year marks the 70th anniversary of one of the darkest and most devastating chapters in the history of Manila and of the country as a whole, an event we know today as the Battle of Manila in 1945 in which American and Japanese forces fought in a bloody, devastating battle in a bid to liberate Manila from Japanese control that lasted for about a month.
(courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
This was the singular event that would change Manila forever as the city once known as the “Pearl of the Orient” became one of the most devastated cities during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost and many of the city’s important infrastructure and landmarks were heavily damaged, if not totally destroyed, many of which would not be rebuilt ever again.
In commemoration of this event, the Urban Roamer will be having a special feature “Manila1945.” From time to time from now until early March, we will be dedicating some entries here to the sites and landmarks that have figured in the Battle of Manila of 1945 in one way or another. I hope that these entries will, in some way, help bring about a better understanding of what happened then and how it has affected Manila and the people since then. And what better way to begin our understanding of these events by a little history lesson of how it began…
