Gabaga Nga Paghigugma (Flaming Embers of Love)

Just as fire grows and spreads out its warmth and light, KKW’s open space is amassed by sculptures, assemblages and murals spanning a hundred and thirty feet.

The once grey walls facing KKW’s main structure is now one of the biggest collaborative murals in Leipzig and the only one done by residence artists coming from Southeast Asia. The mural begins with a Goddess of Creativity, inspired by a spiritual entity who is believed to communicate with ancient traditional weavers through their dreams. This kind of cosmic anthology reverberates throughout the Philippine islands. This image is prompted by the goddess’ huge torch, lighting the way for the Filipino families who are crossing the seas in a balangay (a kind of boat that brought one of the first communities to the Philippine shores). On the landscape are sugarcane fields and the Sakadas (a term which literally means ‘migrant,’ or ‘separated,’ but also refers to the sugarcane field workers who originally crossed over to Negros from Panay island. This community of workers made the Negros sugar industry possible and uplifted the province’s economy). The huge endemic fruit trees are accompanied by the artists’ iconic characters coming together in celebration. Above all these is an equestrian whose heart and mind glows as bright as the torch he secures tightly in his hand. The whole mural is highlighted by the Philippine fireflies which symbolize a pristine harmony between humanity and nature, and is, in Filipino folklore, a message from Diwatas (god-like entities), that the place should be respected and cared for.

The world is dimmed by the inability to find value in the kind of living that springs out from love. In its simplistic array of light-emitting species and light bearing voyagers, the barren topography of land and seas is transformed into the fused realms of reality and vision.