August 16, 2024 — The exhibit HOHOL (Hang Out Hang Out Lang) curated by young artists Christian Vistan and Patrick Cruz features artworks by 10 Filipino artists “from across the diaspora”. The exhibit is at the grunt gallery, an artist-run centre in East Vancouver.
One of the featured artists is Lani Maestro. Her artwork entitled her name is the hand-painted “Mary Jane” on canvas. Beside the artwork is the little square with the QR code, which invites the viewer to scan the code. Who is her name? Who is Mary Jane?
Mary Jane Veloso is the Filipina migrant worker, then 25 years old, who was trafficked by illegal recruiters with the promise of a job abroad in 2010. Her traffickers gave her a suitcase for her clothes but she did not know that her recruiters had hidden illegal drugs in the lining of the suitcase.
She was arrested in Indonesia, charged with drug trafficking, and sentenced to death by firing squad. In 2015, on the day of her execution, the Indonesian government ordered a last-minute reprieve for Veloso because of the overwhelming demand around the world to stop her execution.
Veloso, the victim of trafficking, still languishes on death row, even if her traffickers have been arrested, convicted and are imprisoned in the Philippines already. Veloso has been a prisoner in Indonesia for 14 years. She is now 39 years old and should be reunited with her children and her elderly parents who have relentlessly campaigned for her release.
Strong and loud international pressure and support for Veloso were enough to push the Indonesian government to spare her life. Migrante Canada is continuing this campaign and will not stop until Veloso is freed and brought back to her family in the Philippines.
Multiples of Maestro’s artwork her name are also dispersed throughout Vancouver, as part of the HOHOL exhibit, at several cultural and community spaces. These off-site spaces are at St. Mary the Virgin South Hill -Anglican Church at 808 East 50th Avenue; the Community Office of Mable Elmore, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver Kensington at 6106 Fraser Street; Bahay Migrante at 4794 (basement) Fraser Street; and at Pampanga’s Best Cafeteria at 4279 Fraser Street.
Photo credits: Natasha Katedralis and E. Maestro
Top: St. Mary the Virgin South Hill -Anglican Church with Rev Farinas and E. Maestro
Middle Left: Pampanga’s Best Cafeteria with Christian Vistan; Right: Christian Vistan and MLA Mable Emore at Elmore’s Community Office
Bottom: Bahay Migrante with muralist Bert Monterona & E. Maestro
These off-site spaces, one could call them community galleries of a sort, provide the public with more access, a more direct appreciation, connection and interaction to Maestro's artwork without stepping foot inside the gallery (or in addition to visiting the gallery). These spaces remove barriers to seeing and experiencing art, help bridge social divides, and facilitate conversations around the artwork. Maestro’s her name does that.
QR Code to Free Mary Jane Petition
Tairone Bastien, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Art at Ontario College of Art & Design University and independent curator, noted that “Maestro is well known for minimal yet provocative text-based works that are site responsive, unearthing a place’s resonant histories and narratives.”
Maestro’s her name is a testament to that as well. Minimal. Provocative. Responsive.
The HOHOL group exhibition at the grunt gallery features artworks by Christopher Baliwas, Trisha Baga, Patrick Cruz, Ella Gonzales, Ramolen Laruan, Lani Maestro, Manuel Ocampo, Christian Vistan, Thea Yabut, and a text by Patrick Flores.
(Erie Maestro is the campaigns and communications officer of Migrante Canada and the sister of the artist Lani Maestro.)
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