MANILA, Philippines - David Griggs’ “New York London Paris Rome Manila City Jail” exhibit recently opened at Green Papaya Art Projects in Kamuning, Quezon City. The show is on view until May 30.
His exhibition, capping his four months artist-in-residency in Manila, has for its centerpiece a suite of four large-scale canvases he worked on with inmates of the Manila City Jail. Each canvas captures the coat of arms of Bahala-na Gang, Sigue Sigue-Sputnik, Sigue Sigue-Commando and Batang City Jail, all acknowledged unofficial fraternities of convicts serving their sentence for various crimes. These coat-of-arms painted at the entrance of each gang’s dormitory inside the city’s cramped prison compound serve to mark territories, and of certain pride and dignity, these gangs hold behind the guarded walls.
David Griggs was born in a Lockheed Hercules somewhere above the north coast of Australia in 1975. At the age of 18 he worked for an underground newspaper, photographing poverty in North India and Nepal. In 1996, while travelling in China, he had a near-death experience and has since devoted his life to producing paintings that explore the darker sides of humanity. Griggs has exhibited extensively around Australia and Souhteast Asia. His first international solo exhibition “The Buko Police” was held at Green Papaya Art Projects in Manila in 2005.
This is an Asialink project funded by the Australia Council and Arts Victoria. Hosted by Green Papaya Art Projects and is supported by the Manila City Jail Management. The show is presented in cooperation with Asialink and the Australian Embassy-Manila.
Green Papaya Art Projects is at 41 T. Gener Street (corner Kamuning Rd.), Quezon City. For information, call 794-1628, SMS 0918- 9457387, e-mail greenpapayaartprojects@gmail.com and info@greenpapayaartprojects.org, or visit www.greenpapayaartprojects.org / http://papayapost.blogspot.com.