Never Forget

People say there are no circumstances.  We meet people, not out of chance, but out of a predetermined and collective consciousness.

Recently, my partner and I had the chance to meet individuals who have personally suffered from the martial law era.  These individuals, student activists then, had family members and friends who were detained and physically tortured; and had personally experienced the atrocities brought about by the abuse of military power.

In recent years, a number of powerful groups have tried to revise history.  The atrocities experienced by victims of martial law have been dismissed and replaced by stories of a glorious and golden era.

Now that the younger generations are called upon to choose the best leaders for the country, the victims of martial law have found it best to fight against historical revisionism.

In a world where long stories are dismissed by snippets; and faces are brushed off with the swipe of a finger, I am hoping that stronger visuals would help drive the point.

This is an illustration that I made for the Martial Law Chronicles Project - an effort by concerned citizens to battle historical revisionism.  

The artwork is based on actual photographs of the Globe Steel strike, which was also known as one of the longest protests in the Philippines by Susan Quimpo, author of Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years.