Sunday 19 July 2015

TUBOK: Heritage Needlecraft of Iloilo

"Handicrafts are like mirrors of our soul. They do not only anchor us who we are and where we were coming from but also tell stories of people who make them from very far away land."

The exquisite century old crafts of Bukidnon,Iloilo hinterlands, Panay Island. ( PHOTOS by ARES POCO BALCARSE) 

When I did a little research on the net about Tubuk, there is none. Perhaps this one of the reasons why I have been pursuing to write this on my blog so knowledge about this crafts will be sustained in the future. The first time I heard about this craft was from Mr. Bombette Marin, of  the Iloilo Provincial Tourism Office who gave me some pictures from his archives.


I have been looking for a fuller collection to photograph. Eureka, I found one at the Sta. Barbara Centennial Museum when my high school classmate Irene Magallon,who is the museum director, merged our ideas to drum up the museum in time for the recently held Independence Day celebration of the Republic of the Philippines  held in the historic town, the first outside of Luzon Island.  I curated the museum with Ares Balcarse as volunteers and the first we did was the Tubuk because we thought this is really a unique craft from Iloilo unknown to many. It is a permanent exhibit at the museum, one reason why one should visit it.