A Conversation with Jamie Bautista: Disturbance and Art as a Force for Good (2 of 3)

Here is part 2 of my conversation with Jamie Bautista on artists and content creators who make use of art into a force for good. Part 1, Art is Creating an Emotional Response can be read here.

SLIA: What art pieces and projects can you recommend that has evidence of this channeling of disturbance into a force for good? Triggered is one, but what else is out there?

I think there are a lot of art projects and content out there that is all about channeling disturbance into a force for good. A lot of protest art I think are examples of that. The whole reason I wanted to do more art for society was because of theater productions like Dulaang UP’s The Kundiman Party, PETA’s Charot or the independently produced Desaparesidos, which were created out of their respective creative teams’ desire to address something disturbing politically. 

During times of crisis like typhoons or the recent pandemic, there were many artistic projects created to raise funds for those affected. The ones I remember well for the pandemic were Bayanihan Musikahan and Lockdown Cinema, though those were more projects using existing art to raise funds.

Jamie Bautista with mentee, Kat Rodriguez

To be honest, I personally don’t know of many projects like ours that create opportunities for others to create art specifically to help change society. That’s why I was so intrigued by the project that resulted in Triggered because I hadn’t heard of or been invited to anything like it before. Usually, we’re asked to support these types of works financially by buying something or donating. But being asked to contribute art, to help younger artists create more art, that was different. 

The closest thing I can think of that’s similar is the AHA Learning Center headed by Jaton Zulueta, that works with many artists in many fields like writing, illustration, video editing, music, and performing to provide education to the less fortunate in different communities, and even went online during the pandemic (I also contributed some Private Iris content for them in their digital lessons). That’s why I think there should be more groups that not only create art to make a difference, but that provide outlets of creativity for both artists and even non-professional artists (remember, our student writers for Triggered were non-literature majors in Management, Social Sciences, etc.) so the positive effect is multiplied.

It’s why I think the Leni Robredo campaign was also a great model for how to provide artistic outlets for people by giving both a clear goal and a driving spirit. The amount of art created for the campaign I’m sure was triggered by frustration with the previous administration but channeled into trying to bring into being a better culture and form of government, rather than simply using art to complain and protest. It provided an outlet for people who wanted to do something, whether by creating art, talking to people house to house, or joining rallies. Even just the creative signs in the rallies were examples of art being used to channel dissatisfaction into something clever yet constructive.

Where to buy Trigerred: TRIGERRED: Creative Responses to the 

Extra-Judicial Killings in the Philippines | Shopee Philippines