JOB ABEDNEGO DAVID

Former Rebel Filipino Artist and Peace Advocate

Mga Obrang Hors de Combat

Artworks made during and after Military Custody

Katuparan ng Pangarap ang Nagaganap

Pagharap sa Hinaharap

My entry to the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence 2025 National Art Competition that I made during my custody in 203rd Infantry Brigade HQ in Oriental Mindoro.

Harmony: An Optimist Possibility

Solarpunk inspired entry to SBC Painting Competition.

Lost in a Dark Forest

Private Collection

Dapithapon sa Basudan

Private Collection

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Former Rebel Filipino Artist

I am a former Deputy Political Instructor with the NPA's STR-MRGU (a regional fighting unit), serving until my capture and surrender in September 2023. Prior to that, as a student leader in the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Fine Arts, I conducted underground political work against the government while refining the philosophical and phenomenological foundations of my artistic practice.

Ever since, I've been interested in Philosophy, which fueled my political practice, having studied Dialectics and phenomenology. I used phenomenology to guide my artistic practice, utilizing the concept of "Spirits" being represented as brushstrokes, which then make up "The World" which is the overall painting. I posit in this framework that the material world is nothing more than an abstract painting, which I represent in a system of spirits being in the world.

After living 6 years in the mountains of Sierra Madre and Mindoro Island as a rebel, I now reflect on my experiences as a failed revolutionary in my current body of work. I hope that my work would stir dialogue to both revolutionary and counter-insurgent factions of society. In my confession, I now see myself detached to any revolutionary or anti-government struggle, staying true to my petite-bourgeois class origin. My meditation on this personal and political fact is underway as an article.

I now spend my time trying to fulfill my role as a husband and family-man, supporting my wife who is also a former rebel, as we tackle life with PTSD, political exclusion, stigma, and economic crises.