Manila Gay Guy

Seven gay guys and a lesbian trooped to the National Museum on a hot and humid Saturday morning. The first 2 hours of the 3-hour guided tour was good, and I was enjoying it, especially that the tour guide (Mr. John Silva, senior consultant, National Museum) is a gay guy himself — he started quite academic, even formal, but as we went from artifact to artifact, banga to banga, and chenes to chenes, he became more and more comfy, more and more animated, more and more gay — and I loved it! Towards the end of the tour he showed us the swirling staircase of the museum, and commented, “and bading, noh!” That had me in stitches.

The pinnacle of the guided tour was when he showed us the overwhelming (in size and in over-all impact) obra of Juan Luna, the Spoliarium.

Let me borrow John Silva’s words in describing this awe-inspiring work:

The painting’s brooding dark canvas exudes tragedy. The scene is the exit room of the Roman Colosseum called the Spoliarium, hence its name. The injured and dying gladiators are being dragged in. To the far right, a woman is half-sprawled on the floor, with her back turned to us. We do not see her face, but her crouch, her hands seemingly to her face, her head bowed and despondent, reveals only sorrow. To the far left we see Romans cheering on the next batch of gladiators in this blood-letting sport. It is barbarism captured on canvas and the Bellas Artes competition of Spain in 1884 would award this entry the gold prize. To everyone’s happy amazement, the second silver prize would be awarded to another Filipino artist, Felix Resureccion Hidalgo.

This painting inspired the young Jose Rizal, then a medical student and a close friend to both artists. Rizal, in his toast to the two artists at a celebration several weeks after, congratulated them and proceeded to declare the end of colonial patriarchy. After all, he reasons, if Filipinos can now equal the Spaniards in the arts, why couldn’t we be equal in political rights? It was a turning point for young Rizal. He had made a declaration. Several months later, he was involved in campus demonstrations and began to write the first sentences to his anti-colonial novel, “Noli Me Tangere.” The medical student’s career path was irrevocably altered, and he dedicated the rest of his life and even gave up his life for his country. It all started with a painting (…). [source]

He delivered this message, along with several more stories surrounding the painting, and it was such a dramatic moment. I myself had to hold back my tears. A piece of art, the Spoliarium, touched a man’s heart, lit a spark in his soul, changed his life, and his country’s life forever. The man’s name is Jose Rizal, and here is the speech that launched his “public life.” So fitting that we had this Spoliarium talk just 5 days before the speech’s 125th anniversary; Rizal spoke the historic speech on June 25, 1884.

I invite you to partake of this experience. We gay guys are an unusually brainy bunch. But what is more important is that we too have a heart, passionate, sometimes even feisty, that can surely resonate with the Spoliarium and all that it represents.

[Photo of the staircase taken from John Silva's blog.]

P.S. Thanks to OutedNarnian for organizing this National Museum tour! Good job!

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