Breathe! Enjoy! Learn!

Once upon a time there was a dilemma. A neurologist had collected so many works of art in his bedroom over the years that it became too crowded. The Pinto Art Museum emerged as the solution to this around ten years ago. Dr Joven Cuanang had started his collection 20 years earlier supporting young Filipino artists. At the time he was the medical director of St. Luke’s where he also displayed works of art. He felt very strongly that a hospital should have a different feel to it and that art could relieve patients’ anxiety.

A core theme expressed at The Pinto Museum is the connection between human wellbeing and art as well as nature. Dr Cuanang also emphasizes the scientific evidence in the field of neuroscience on art’s positive effects on the brain.

The museum is a starting point for communication between people – person to person and with different cultural backgrounds. Despite our differences, the shared experiences of the human family emerge from the collection. Dr Cuanang hopes that the collections will continue to speak to the world for decades to come. The artists, sensitive to their surroundings, express their views on reality, uninhibited by the founder. ”I speak up my mind very strongly”, he says and adds that he hopes the politicians who come and visit take a look at themselves when observing the artists’ work.

I have visited Pinto four times and every time I find something new I did not notice before. This time I was captivated by a piece by Johanna Helmuth titled ”I don’t remember feeling this empty” in which she explores a young girl’s depression. I was startled by the accompanying text: ”Helmut’s work derives its power… also in her courage to represent what the Filipino public once dismissed as taboo: the affliction of melancholy. The dismissal is one of non-acknowledgement, confident as we are that the time-honoured structures of family and friendship could soothe any depression, which is misunderstood as sadness.” Dr Cuanang commented on this: ”Very powerful art piece by Joanna! I included this piece in the museum collection to call attention to the increasing incidence of depression among our youth. Parents oftentimes fail to recognize this malady in their children mistaking the loneliness as part of growing up that could be remedied by showering them with material things. In fact, often it is triggered by lack of parental attention to the emotional needs of their children. By putting this up in the museum, it underlines the need for everyone to recognize it early before the depression becomes so profound that suicide is committed.”

Discoveries of this country and its people through great contemporary artworks await. Hurry, hurry – give yourself a treat and replenish your mind and soul in this exquisite, lush museum that may introduce you to a different side of the Philippines.

About the author: Riitta Laakso

100 % Finnish but with little pieces of my heart scattered all around the world, mostly in Sweden, France, Thailand, Australia, India, Greece, the US and most likely the Philippines. I fall in love easily! I am a mother of three wonderful children to whom I remain forever grateful for keeping me young. Passionate about the arts, charity and OMG, food.