The indigenous body holds tactile memories of climbing a tree while the animist spirit sees through it: a fellow sentient being capable of hope.

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Capanang takes the twin trail of inner contemplation and outer adventure as he embodies the 7-year-old boy in him for Tahod/Reverence, climbing trees, and heeding the invitation of the wild and the fragile. Every painting is a body-to-body connection between man and tree - two complex ecosystems nourished by what is truly essential.

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The journey begins with “Manaya-naya / Delicate”, an emplacement of the limbs to see the birds. It ends with “Dagaya/ Myriad”, a fractal gaze of leaves and light. In between, the diaphragm becomes the bark full of lichen, arms become branches – home for the endangered, the elusive, the magnificent, and even the nocturnal.

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To revere is to “stand in awe of”.

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Capanang invites us to let awe be the source of our real power. For it is through awe that we can remember.

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And in remembering, we resist.

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by Kristine Buenavista