Peace Takes Flight at Museo Pambata

Museo Pambata is making a stand for peace with their latest project, the Palipalaruan. A play on the words paliparan (literally, airport) and palaruan (playground), the interactive art installation work is a combination of the Tutubing Bakal Helicopter Project and the Peace Playground.

For the Tutubing Bakal project, the retired Vietnam War-era helicopter parked at the forecourt of the museum, familiar to anyone who has been there or who has driven by that section of Roxas Boulevard, has been transformed into a work of art by a group of volunteer Australian artists – Madeleine Challender, Veronika Mihalj, John Bradshaw and Leah McManus – led by Australian-based Filipino artist Alwin Reamillo.

Reamillo is known for his collaborative, socially-involved works. He recently headed two similar collaborative art projects in Australia, creating full-sized helicopter sculptures using recycled materials. Through the projects, Reamillo has worked with the multicultural community of Townsville in North Queensland and with the indigenous people of Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberly Region of Western Australia, bringing the Filipino bayanihan spirit to the Australian communities, using art as a way to build positive social dynamics and encourage cooperation.

The Museo Pambata staff has been planning the Tutubing Bakal project with Reamillo for the past two years. In March this year, Reamillo and his team of artists conducted drawing workshops with the children of ChildHope Asia-Philippines. The children helped the artists design the exterior of the helicopter, envisioning what peace means to them.

The helicopter’s cabin is being developed into an interactive peace shrine with postcards, prayers, and other objects from local arts communities, and Filipinos here and abroad. Also featured in the peace shrine are stories about the war in Mindanao written by child evacuees from North Cotobato.

Reamillo sees the helicopter as a metaphor for lifting communities. “The helicopter will serve as a reminder to Museo Pambata visitors of the continuing armed conflict in Mindanao and in surrounding provinces,” he says. Decorating the Tutubing Bakal with lively designs and messages of peace, the artists have transformed the former instrument of war into a vibrant symbol of peace.

As the Philippine’s first interactive museum for children, Museo Pambata always incorporates both fun and learning in each exhibit, while advocating children’s rights, primarily the right to education, health, recreation, and mental and physical development.

In addition to the Tutubing Bakal project, the museum brings a message of peace to children with the Peace Playground. The museum’s old playground has been refurbished and given a new life, as well as a new, meaningful message to everyone who plays there.

Artist Don Salubayba, who recently finished a residency at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, was tapped to make a work of art out of the old playground, making it an interactive, educational, and dynamic space for young visitors to explore.

The artist shares, “It’s a challenging task – I have been dreaming of designing a Filipino playground for so long. Hopefully, the community or visitors to the museum would be reminded of, if not learn more about, being Pinoy while having fun.”

Salubayba’s whimsical design incorporates distinct Filipino motifs, creating an exciting playground, making the area both an educational space, as well as a vibrant reminder of Filipino heritage. The playground’s swing is reminiscent of the sarimanok, while the monkey bars are, of course, a take on the popular Filipino tale, “The Monkey and the Turtle.” Salubayba’s main design for the playground is based on the bakunawa, a mythical dragon/serpent of Bukidnon. He explains that the creature is said to swallow the moon, causing an eclipse. “When eclipses occur, it was believed that a major change will happen, or is about to happen,” he says. It is with the Peace Playground that the museum hopes to start a positive change in the nation towards peace.

Both artists were given the task of transformation. For Salubayba, it was transforming an old playground into one that reflects both peace and Filipino heritage. For Reamillo, it was to transform the helicopter, once a symbol of war, into a shrine to peace.

The Museo Pambata’s project also aims to bring about a transformation of thought. Both the Tutubing Bakal and the Peace Playground will serve as springboards for workshops and interactive exhibits that address the country’s – and the world’s – problems with armed conflicts, bringing into focus the effect armed conflict has on children who are caught in these war zones.

“It will help in the development of positive strategies to address the personal and social problems that emerge from conflict,” says Reamillo.

The work of artists like Alwin Reamillo and Don Salubayba, supported by Museo Pambata, gives each child an opportunity to learn while having fun. Through art, they can be transported to a place where they can connect with young Filipinos like them, all over the country, sharing different experiences and learning from each other. It is in these children that peace can take flight.