Make a Stand for Democracy Now: Enough Blood on the Ballot
With the 2010 Philippine Elections just a few days away, we have to make one of the most important decisions for our country by voting for leaders that our hearts, minds and conscience dictate to us.
The Ampatuan Maguindanao Massacre which still has to be solved and seems to be on the track of not being solved still haunts many people, the victims’ families, the journalists and ordinary citizens till now.
Triggered by this fatal incident, Cherie Paris watches encourages people to stand up and be heard by saying “NO!” to electoral violence.
A photographic tableau “Not Today” was created by visual artist and photograher Wawi Navarroza as a reminder to call for a clean, honest and peaceful Philippine elections. This will be featured in a billboard along EDSA, Mandaluyong.
News photos from the media and Francisco de Goya’s cathartic painting, The Third of May, 1808, are some of the inspirations that Navarroza looked at to create this “critical piece that comments and re-imagines the absurdity of violence by staging a thought-provoking Real/Unreal tableau vivant”.
Not Today, The Third of May, 1808, where the Spanish resistance to Napoleon’s armies during the occupation of 1808 happened, also served as a poignant reaction against political violence.
“I got interested in re-creating a shared pathos, a familiar disturbing image as a way of addressing the problem,” Wawi Navarroza said
“I’ve designed this piece to function in many levels through the different contexts I staged this photo to be read (billboard, gallery, commercial),” explains the contemporary artist. “The work aims to destabilize our usual reception of images in order for us to remember and rethink how images shape our ideas and opinions in a massive insidious way. I’ve decentralized the meaning in this picture by depicting reality mirrored as fiction.”
She adds further: “That this photograph seems to be parading the Theatre of the Absurd is nothing different to the absurdity of massacre, war, atrocity and violence. People have died for pointless reasons, the “senseless” killings (is there sensible killing?), the blood-stained election votes. We all know it’s starting to feel like circus around here. We’re living in a cabaret of underhanded politics… the huddled masses with collective amnesia, the trigger-happy demons on wheels, sequined evangelists, stupid whitening products, scams and scandals, the madmen and monsters who are willing to do horrendous acts of violence in exchange of…what? This is our dark comedy, our self-styled campy horror show.”
The Time is Now
In cooperation with Cherie Paris watches, the tableau Not Today, a limited edition Cherie Paris watch was launched as a reminder that NOW is the time we have to make a stand against electoral violence, brutality and bloodshed.
The “Peace” watch reminds Filipinos that it’s about time we emerge from behind our mobile phones, behind television sets and behind our Facebook and Twitter accounts and take an active and visible stand against electoral violence.
The Peace watch is designed by Wawi Navarroza and features a short hand that reads “It’s about time” and a long hand showing the words “Enough blood on the ballot,” emblazoned as strong symbols of peace, as well as non-violent and honest elections.
Sign the petition here and let your voice be heard when you say “Enough Blood on the Ballot”
For more information about Urban Time and Wawi Navarroza’s anti-violence advocacy, please visit www.urbantime.com.ph. Limited-edition Cherie Paris “Peace” watch is available at The Urban Time boutique in SM North EDSA Annex and select Robinsons and Metro Gaisano department store.
