IN Kinno Florentino’s vision
for Iloilo, the past and the future blend seamlessly into a hablon dress. He
sees Iloilo’s women clad in garb inspired by our province’s Panay-Bukidnon
communities, standing tall and proud against the city’s most iconic sites ¬– the Arroyo Fountain, Calle
Real, the Molo Mansion ¬¬– their eyes fiery, staring
fearlessly into the future.
Tubok, named after the Tumandok /
Panay-Bukidnon tradition of ornate embroidery Panubok, is the first solo
exhibit and fashion project of Kinno Florentino, a fourth-year Fine Arts
student of the University of San Agustin. In Tubok, Kinno adds a unique spin to
our province’s indigenous traditional costume, envisioning them worn by the
modern Ilongga, all the while encouraging the preservation of local customs.
“I
wanted to innovate the clothing, but still keep in mind Ilonggo culture,” said
Kinno, expressing that fashion is his favorite art medium. “Panubok is one of
the many unknown icons of Panay identity, and [it] should be learned [by
coming] generations.”
Kinno shares he was once frustrated that
Visayas’ indigenous people (IP), especially the communes of Central Panay, were
not given as much attention as tribes from Luzon and Mindanao. Finding out
about our island’s Panay-Bukidnon communities, he was awestruck by their
vibrant and distinct customs.
For research and to stay true to the
Tumandok tradition, Kinno visited the IP community in Barangay Garangan,
Calinog four times in a span of six months, immersing himself in their culture.
What he learned was the art of traditional embroidery and how it has been
passed down from generation to generation for more than hundreds of years.
“[I
saw that] through Panubok, our ancestors were not only able to share their
traditions but also pass down knowledge and education,” recalls Kinno who sees
his exhibit as a way to stir greater conversation about our province’s
indigenous people.
A self-described “ambitious and demanding
perfectionist,” Kinno expresses that he had to fight through a lot of time
constraints to make his show perfect – finishing the fashion pieces in just
over a month, and completing the all the wall-mounted paintings with just a
week’s notice.
Kinno used local products to design his
dresses, mainly the famed hablon of Miag-ao, embroidering them with traditional
ornate patterns inspired by the Panay-Bukidnon panubok. “Each Panubok pattern
has an exact meaning and is usually associated with animal features such as
bird’s eyes, and snake skins,” shares Kinno.
To complement his fashion show, Kinno translated
his designs to canvas. “The paintings of these clothes worn by Ilongga models
set in different Iloilo Heritage sites will show how the modern women embrace
their ethno-cultural identity and independence through fashion,” expressed the
young artist.
Kinno dedicates his first solo exhibit to
the Panay-Bukidnon community, showing earnestness to instilling a sense of
Ilonggo identity and culture in coming generations. “It is important to
preserve the identity of the Panay-Bukidnon and the stories that they tell,”
muses Kinno, his eyes fiery, staring fearlessly into the future.
