Ang pag-ibig sa kauri ay ang pag-ibig na sumisibol sa makauring pagsapol sa kalagayan ng lipunang kinabibilangan ng isang uri, sa pinagmumulan ng pang-aapi at pagsasamantala ng uri sa kapwa uri… Pag-ibig na malalim na hinuhugot sa sariling kapasyahang mag-alay ng panahon, kakayanan at buhay para sa mithing paglaya ng uri mula sa pang-aapi at pagsasamantala.
-Ka Roja Banua
Spokesperson, NDF Bicol
What is the foundation of the long-lasting ‘marriage’ between imperialism and feudalism, state-imposed violence and bureaucrat capitalism, class and struggle? Is it love? If so, what kind? For Caloy Gernale, it is ‘class love.’
According to the National Democratic Front’s “Guidelines and Rules on Marriage inside the Party,” (April 1998), ‘class love,’ in the context of a party-officiated marriage, pertains to the party member’s initiative to prioritize his/her “commitment and promotion of revolutionary objectives” over his/her personal desires. This is the kind of love advocated within the current revolutionary movement in the Philippines. One’s personal feelings (‘sex love’) should be subordinate to his/her love for the proletariat (‘class love’). But what Caloy Gernale understands is that ‘class love’ is also what reinforces the marital and material union between (individuals and) institutions that belong to the same exploitative class. This is what Gernale intends to explore in a richer, more detailed one-person exhibition titled You Are Cordially Invited.
Using scenes and objects that are often associated with marriage and/or weddings, Caloy Gernale assembles a cohesive demonstration of a self-serving class-based union. He also uses marriage and/or weddings as the central motif that binds all six works into one intelligible exhibition. Read in full.
-Ka Roja Banua
Spokesperson, NDF Bicol
What is the foundation of the long-lasting ‘marriage’ between imperialism and feudalism, state-imposed violence and bureaucrat capitalism, class and struggle? Is it love? If so, what kind? For Caloy Gernale, it is ‘class love.’
According to the National Democratic Front’s “Guidelines and Rules on Marriage inside the Party,” (April 1998), ‘class love,’ in the context of a party-officiated marriage, pertains to the party member’s initiative to prioritize his/her “commitment and promotion of revolutionary objectives” over his/her personal desires. This is the kind of love advocated within the current revolutionary movement in the Philippines. One’s personal feelings (‘sex love’) should be subordinate to his/her love for the proletariat (‘class love’). But what Caloy Gernale understands is that ‘class love’ is also what reinforces the marital and material union between (individuals and) institutions that belong to the same exploitative class. This is what Gernale intends to explore in a richer, more detailed one-person exhibition titled You Are Cordially Invited.
Using scenes and objects that are often associated with marriage and/or weddings, Caloy Gernale assembles a cohesive demonstration of a self-serving class-based union. He also uses marriage and/or weddings as the central motif that binds all six works into one intelligible exhibition. Read in full.