Quiapo serves as the setting of “Doll Eyes,” a children's story written by Eline Santos based on a painting by Joy Mallari. The haunting yet hopeful tale is the 10th children’s book of the Center for Art, New Ventures, and Sustainable Development (CANVAS) and co-published with the UST Press, both in hardcover and digital editions in 2010.
The story revolves around two characters named Tin and Ella, young girls who are sampaguita vendors at the Quiapo church. Ella has been turned into a doll by a mysterious shop owner: an old doll maker named Manang Bolabola. The old woman lures people into her shop and petrifies them. The victims, usually children, are trapped in ivory and porcelain and their souls are harvested through their eyes. Tin rescues Ella with the help of a tall man who gave her a toy gun. The dolls in the woman’s shop return to their human form, and the two friends walk free among the crowd.
Quiapo is a study of contrasts in the story. It is both portrayed as a stifling hub of stores teeming with shoppers as well as a backdrop for the arcane and mysterious, eerily quiet in some back alley or hidden room. The opening sentence of the story paints a picture of the former: “Quiapo is a labyrinth of stores that sells everything from the mundane — such as stolen cell phones and seventy-five-peso slippers — to the arcane” (Santos 2).
“PASAKALYE” by Joy Mallari. The opening illustration for the children’s book depicts a crowded street in Quiapo.
The painting measures 108 x 72 in, made with oil on canvas, and is part of the CANVAS Collection.
Tin’s introduction in the story also paints a picture of Quiapo as a sprawling marketplace: “In the streets and stalls of Quiapo, flowers are sold in bulk at the lowest prices. Tin and the other sampaguita vendors got their daily supply of the sweet-smelling flowers here. / It was January. Competition was tough as people are less likely to buy after the holidays” (10).
“ALOK” by Joy Mallari. The young girl, Tin, is a vendor peddling her sweet-smelling sampaguita flowers outside Quiapo church. The painting (33 x 42 in, oil on canvas, CANVAS Collection) is incorporated in the book.
The crush of the crowd is indicated further in a familiar Quiapo-ritual: the procession of the Black Nazarene, “Although she was early, there was a mass of people already milling about. Tin remembered then that it was the feast of the Black Nazarene. In that chaos, Tin knew it was more likely that she would get crushed and trampled on, rather than find her missing friend. Silently, she begged the heavens for help” (16).
“HANGOS” by Joy Mallari. A frantic Tin rushes by the gates of the Quiapo Church as she searches for her missing friend, Ella. The painting is 36 x 32 in, made with oil on canvas, and is a part of the CANVAS Collection.
On the other hand, the quiet interior of Manang Bolabola’s shop maintains a stillness, which provides a different means of suffocation,
Immediately, Tin felt suffocated. She felt watched by hundreds of eyes as fear rooted her legs in place.
She heard the soft swish of a curtain. “Hello,” the doll maker grinned. “Admiring my doll collection, I see. Not very nice of you, sneaking in. All you had to do was ask and I would have warmly welcomed you.”
The hairs on the back of Tin’s neck wanted to pop out of their roots, but something in the old lady’s voice was strangely compelling. (19)
As a backdrop of frenetic commercial activity contradicted by religious performances, Quiapo becomes a setting for the struggle of good and evil, represented by the innocence of the girls and the malice of the soul-harvesting crone. The divine intervention is provided by “a tall, dark man … with [a] thorny-looking hat [and] the kindest eyes” (18). The Christ figure provides help by giving Tin a toy water gun filled with a blood-colored liquid, alluding to the miraculous protection of Quiapo church’s Black Nazarene.
“Doll Eyes” is the 2008 Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing contest winner. Each year, CANVAS commissions a visual artist to create a painting which will serve as inspiration for the story writing competition. 1 Santos crafted her story from the commissioned piece and after her story was declared winner by CANVAS, 2 Mallari rendered the book illustrations in full-size paintings. The 23 paintings incorporated in the published storybook were exhibited first at the UP Vargas Museum in 2008 to coincide with the book launching, and then at the Ayala Museum in 2010.
“DOLL EYES” is available as a free download from CANVAS’s website. The book and cover design is by Daniel Palma Tayona and photography for Mallari’s paintings is by Mike Cheung and Ocs Alvarez.
LINKS
“Doll Eyes” Online
The English and Filipino e-book versions (pdf) are downloadable at canvas.ph
NOTES
1. Since 2006, CANVAS has continued to weave art into storytelling. Beginning with “The Rocking Horse,” created by author Becky Bravo from a painting by Elmer Borlongan, the organization has continued to publish children’s books through the Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition and donate books to underprivileged communities through the One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children Campaign. Gigo Alampay, founder and executive director of CANVAS, also mentions that the organization holds art exhibitions, arranges group shows through the Looking for Juan Program, and mounts other creative events and activities.
2. The judges were singer/actress Lea Salonga, Tin-Aw Art Gallery owner Dawn Atienza, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of the Graduate Studies Office of University of the Philippines College of Arts and Letters Wendell Capili. CANVAS announced that the judges were unanimous in their decision (“And the Winner Is…”).
WORKS CITED
Alampay, Gigo. “Our Story -- Why We Do the Things We Do.” Canvas, www.canvas.ph/about-canvas. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.
“And the Winner Is…” Looking For Juan, Blogspot, 16 May 2008, www.lookingforjuan.blogspot.com/2008/05/and-winner-is.html. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.
Arcilla, Camille Anne M. "Writing stories on CANVAS." Business World, 5 Oct. 2016, www.pressreader.com/philippines/business-world/20161005/282492888196786. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.
“Joy Mallari Illustrates Doll Eyes.” Snippets from the Manila Art Scene, 13 Dec. 2010, www.manilaartblogger.com/2010/12/13/joy-mallari-illustrates-doll-eyes. Accessed 11 Oct. 2017.
“Mallari's Art for New Children's Book on Exhibit.” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 Mar. 2010, www.pressreader.com/philippines/philippine-daily-inquirer/20100308/284215166749155. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.
Santos, Eline. "Doll Eyes." Canvas, 2010, www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/CQISytX5oq1nKw. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.
Quiapo from Doll Eyes:
A Children’s Story from Eline Santos and CANVAS
Eric Gerard H. Nebran | October 26, 2017
