Creative workshops on reclaiming derogatory words in Filipino culture launched this October

The following is a press release from Pinay Collection.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Pinay Collection, a Toronto-based Filipina-owned clothing line that aims to celebrate, own, and reclaim Filipina identity, is launching its Maarte, Maldita, Maganda calligraphy workshop in Metro Manila and Rizal Province starting on October 13. The workshop uses brush calligraphy and art as a tool to address the impact of hurtful and derogatory words in Filipino culture that are often rooted in colonization and intergenerational harm. 

“The goal of this workshop is to provide a safe and supportive environment where participants can explore the art of brush calligraphy while addressing the impact of painful and derogatory words that have often been used to put us down,” says Jovie Galit, founder of Pinay Collection. “The workshop is meant to create a space for empowerment and collective storytelling.”

While cultivating play, the workshop series encourages participants to explore the role of language in developing our self-worth, as well as practicing creative healing in community. For instance, workshop participants look at words and phrases like “bruha,” “taba,” or “walang hiya” that have been used to shame Filipinas and transform them into words of resistance. The workshop series have been popular among diasporic communities in Canada and aims to reconnect to Filipinos in the homeland. 

“This workshop was always about confronting the words that our titas (aunts) and nanays (moms) used to make us millennial Filipinas feel some kind of way as we were growing up,” says Karla Villanueva Danan, a workshop participant. “Seeing how I can turn these hurtful words into beautiful calligraphy pieces while reflecting deeply on the hurt it comes from has been transformative.”  

Maarte, Maldita, Maganda calligraphy workshops will be taking place in the following locations:

• Friday, October 13, 2023 | 6 pm to 8 pm | Badass Shop + Cafe
  Marikina-Infanta Highway, Antipolo, 1800 Rizal
• Saturday, October 14, 2023 | 2 pm to 4:30 pm | Paraluman Flora Studio
  109 Kamias Road, Quezon City
• Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 1 pm to 3:30 pm | Good Food Sundays at Mandala Park
  Shaw Blvd, Pleasant Hills, Mandaluyong
• Sunday, October 22, 2023 | 2 pm to 4:30 pm | Manila Middle Ground
  2F, Unit 6, Comuna, 238 Pablo Ocampo Sr. Extension, San Antonio, Makati City

—Rappler.com