Finding sanctuary in the soil

Jirah Labanza explores damage and renewal in ‘Bosom’

- By S.C. FOJAS

To understand the textured canvases of Jirah Labanza is to understand the soil of Dingle, Iloilo. In her latest exhibit, “Bosom,” the Grand Prize winner of the Philippine Art Awards returned to the fragments of the countryside that shaped her.

By blending thick impastos of oil with her signature uhot (rice straw), Jirah didn’t just paint landscapes; she sculpted the very earth of her heritage. The exhibit served as a reminder that for this architect-turned-artist, the "bosom" is both a place of prayer and a reflection of the charred fields that eventually become the soil for healing.

The architecture of texture

Born in 1995 in Dingle, Iloilo, Jirah’s path to the canvas was shaped by the structured world of architecture, having graduated from Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISATU). Her soul, however, clearly belongs to the untamed landscapes of her youth. As the daughter of a teacher and a farmer, she successfully fused these worlds: the discipline of design and the raw, unyielding fortitude of the land.