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BathalaDecolonial Minimalism Founding Work - Filipino DeitiesSize: 1400 x 1400 pixelsMedium: Digital ArtArtist: IJWBAAYear: 2025
The Bathala artwork presents a compelling vision of indigenous Filipino spirituality through a modern minimalist lens. It distills the essence of Bathala—supreme deity in Tagalog mythology—into a refined, geometric composition, emphasizing form over embellishment. This abstraction removes colonial artistic influences, reclaiming pre-colonial storytelling in a contemporary visual language.
Bathala, as the creator and ruler of the universe, embodies themes of cosmic balance and divine authority. Before Spanish colonization, indigenous Filipinos revered Bathala as the highest force governing existence, shaping their connection to nature and the unseen world. However, colonial rule imposed foreign religious structures, overshadowing native cosmologies and redefining spirituality through an external lens.
Through bold simplification and deliberate abstraction, the artwork resists these imposed narratives, restoring Bathala’s presence in Filipino identity. The careful interplay of shapes and negative space shifts the focus from grand depictions to introspective interpretation, allowing the viewer to engage with ancestral wisdom on their own terms. This piece stands as an assertion of cultural autonomy, ensuring indigenous spirituality remains alive and relevant in contemporary artistic discourse.
Bathala, as the creator and ruler of the universe, embodies themes of cosmic balance and divine authority. Before Spanish colonization, indigenous Filipinos revered Bathala as the highest force governing existence, shaping their connection to nature and the unseen world. However, colonial rule imposed foreign religious structures, overshadowing native cosmologies and redefining spirituality through an external lens.
Through bold simplification and deliberate abstraction, the artwork resists these imposed narratives, restoring Bathala’s presence in Filipino identity. The careful interplay of shapes and negative space shifts the focus from grand depictions to introspective interpretation, allowing the viewer to engage with ancestral wisdom on their own terms. This piece stands as an assertion of cultural autonomy, ensuring indigenous spirituality remains alive and relevant in contemporary artistic discourse.
Featured OnWebsite:IJWBAA, The Collective Registry of Artists, Art Future Club, September 2026 https://www.artfutureclub.com/artists/ijwbaa
Social Media:coming soon
Publications:IJWBAA. Decolonial Minimalism. Photobook, mm/dd/yyyy, p. #. - coming soonFiggi Magazine Fantasy & AI September Vol 1793 (print and digital), September 22, 2025. https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3170112
Exhibitions:IJWBAA. Filipino Folklore and Identity: What Makes a Filipino? The Wrong Biennale – 7th Edition, Open Pavilion, 1 Nov. 2025 – 31 Mar. 2026, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ijwbaa-eej-wah.Filipino Deities VR Exhibit, OncyberIO, June 1-31, 2025. https://oncyber.io/filipino-deities.
Social Media:coming soon
Publications:IJWBAA. Decolonial Minimalism. Photobook, mm/dd/yyyy, p. #. - coming soonFiggi Magazine Fantasy & AI September Vol 1793 (print and digital), September 22, 2025. https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3170112
Exhibitions:IJWBAA. Filipino Folklore and Identity: What Makes a Filipino? The Wrong Biennale – 7th Edition, Open Pavilion, 1 Nov. 2025 – 31 Mar. 2026, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ijwbaa-eej-wah.Filipino Deities VR Exhibit, OncyberIO, June 1-31, 2025. https://oncyber.io/filipino-deities.
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