Strategically, a volcano enriches the soil for greater agricultural production. Tactically, it is a vaunted destroyer of lives and property.
To calm its violence and invoke its power for the benefit of the people, ritual sacrifices have been offered to the volcano. Often, this included human sacrifice. In the most extreme needs, the tribal chief or the king himself was sacrificed to appease the volcano. From Popocapetl in Latin America to Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii, to the numerous volcanoes of Indonesia and all around the Ring of Fire, this practice has been observed.
A story is told of the great Hawaiian King Kamehameha and the very active volcano Mt. Kilauea. During the realm of King Kamehameha, Kilauea, the volcano, had been erupting without pause and the lava was flowing towards several villages. Even after several human sacrifices were made to the volcano, the eruption did not stop.
It was then decided that to appease the volcano, the king himself was to be offered to the angry god. Willingly taking himself up to the volcano, King Kamehameha prepared to make his offering. But instead of jumping into the crater, he cut off his very long hair, wrapped it in the leaves of the sacred ti plant and hurled this package into the crater. Soon thereafter, the volcano stopped its eruption.
The long lock of hair is considered a crown to Hawaiian kings. It is the repository of his royalty. Cutting this as a sacrifice to the erupting volcano is a symbolic act of surrendering his power to an angry god.
An environmental sculpture as a living garden has been designed and installed by Jerry Araos at the home of Drs. Del Rosario at Georgetown Subdivision in Laurel, Batangas, overlooking the grand panorama of Taal Lake with its volcanoes.
The rim around the crater lake is fast becoming a resort hub. So much investment in money and hope has been poured individually and collectively.
"Ta(a)lisman," as the work is known, was commissioned by the Del Rosarios as a social contribution to the development of the area. It is both an invocation and a prayer for protection and continued well-being for those who have chosen to come here.
"Ta(a)lisman" as a social amulet is a composite sculpture made of mortar, copper and volcanic cinder. Its form intimates a helmet-like structure, symbolic of the power that crowns and protects the human head. It is elevated as an offering to the spirit of Taal Volcano. It is an expression of the hope for a peaceful co-existence with the forces of nature manifested by the latent power of Taal Volcano.
Beneath the helmet or crown is a composition of aesthetically installed group of huge volcanic boulders. The whole sculpture monument is open to the sun and the sky. Air and light freely flow from the top and all sides. It is not to be enclosed by a roof or walls. Being on one whole vacant lot solely for itself, it becomes a beacon of benevolence.
Oftentimes, environmental sculpture is construed to be synonymous to a monument installed in an outdoor space. Araos sculpture project, however, transforms the environment itself into a space for meaningful aesthetic experience.
The garden is the most obvious and most doable environmental project that a family can undertake as a social unit. A family’s commitment towards ecological development seeks to enhance their inner sensitivity and outer prestige. Environmental art contributes to the life of the community. It influences the aesthetic expectations of the family, permeating the spaces that they move in.
As Araos himself puts it: "A sculpture as monument makes a landmark; a sculpture as garden makes a destination. A sculpture as monument reduces the audience into mere spectatorship; a sculpture as garden promotes the audience into participant. A sculpture as monument is art in the state of being; sculpture as garden is art in the state of becoming.
"A sculpture as garden allows looking at, walking in and doing all that is allowable in a public venue. With art as a garden, the fixed object of art is abandoned in favor of an ever-changing space. The constant growth of plants and people is a continuing dialogue in the articulation of space."
This project is a garden sculpture that simultaneously addresses the crying need of an endangered strip of nature and the demanding trend of culture. It is a spontaneous solution to a planned function. It is a re-initiation to living with nature and the different dimensions of experience that it may provide. It provides a humanizing instrument to the social, spiritual and cultural development of the family members, staff and their guests.
The sculpture garden creates spaces for recreation, contemplation and continuous contact with nature while featuring an attractive display of plants, stones and waterworks that complement the view of the lake. It also mediates between the built architecture and the grand vista of a natural landscape that surrounds it.
Getting in touch with nature satisfies the basic human need to have direct contact with reality. In modern housing, gardens must symbolize the natural landscape that people of today need to experience, whatever the time of day.
"Tanglawan" is a series of sculptured light posts for the Taalnawin Garden. They are scattered for maximum effective illumination to show the nocturnal pulchritude of the garden. They help to ease the passage through the walkways of the garden yet do not turn night into day.
The tanglawan, made of poured concrete with stone veneer, is the vertical dimension that provides contrast to the horizontal layout of the garden. Though similar in character, no two posts are alike. The organic lines of the tanglawan’s posts reflect the undulating character of the garden paths and stonework. They are subtle representations of feminine grace. The bases of the lamps have different neck pieces reflecting female fickleness. As such, the tanglawan are unobtrusive elements in the garden intimating human presence amidst the profusion of natural elements.
The tanglawan is an example of how sculptural forms meld garden and architectural design. It blurs the line where the architecture ends and the garden begins. It seeks to unite human space and nature space. It is an instrumental guide that realizes the artist’s vision of unified space where outdoor spaces and interior spaces are experienced as a seamless continuum.
Araos sums it up succinctly: "Urban sophistication is a definitive rhythm. Living with nature in a real sense is a flexible experience. With this garden, we seek to re-establish a co-nurturing relationship between people and nature. The culture of humanity has abused nature with endangering exploitation. This garden is an active commitment towards restoring that part of the earth within our reach. It provides an escape from the enclosed volume of architectural space by opening the audience to an awareness of infinite space available in the garden. Perfumed garden elements shall reach out and assertively include its audience into an interactive perceptorial engagement."
The garden, planted to different flowering species to provide a year-round burst of blooms, sets the place apart as a nature-nurturing address in the community. It is an ecology-friendly example to visitors and neighbors and strengthens the emotional fibers of its audience as the structure of the soil is enriched. It also becomes a realization of Araos’ vision of environmental art as a participatory medium for the renewal of an awareness of nature and the development of an ecological conscience.