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Miguel Antonio 'Humayra' Joaquin

Miguel Antonio Humayra Joaquin is a Filipino artist utilizing art to showcase the atrocities committed during the War on Drugs and Martial Law. Regardless of the possible controversies that may tie up with him due to is father's position in the government, Miguel continued to raise awareness and present the situation of the Philippine masses in the hands of a bloody government. He is well-known for his exhibit 'Humayra' and mural 'Sa Ilalim ng Puting Kumot.' He is also one of the founders of UP Pintados and Art for Humanity's Sake.

Birth and Childhood
Known for his outstanding artworks, Miguel Antonio ‘Humayra’ Joaquin grew up as a visual artist, even though he did not focus on visual arts during his childhood years. He was born on Agust 15, 1996 to his parents Faustino Balagtas and Berlinda Giron-Balagtas in Baseco Compund in the City of Manila. While giving birth to him, his mother died. Because of his father’s incapacity and the hardships to raise him, his father turned him over to the Hospicio de San Jose, an orphanage in Metro Manila. A childless couple, Fernando Joaquin, who is a high ranking official in the Philippine Natonal Police, and Annabelle Melissa Hernandez-Joaquin, who is a well-known business woman adopted him from the orphanage, in 1997. He was just almost a year old back then. They are now residing in Corinthian Garden in Quezon City.

Formal Education
During his childhood, he is seen with the potential in visual arts, even though his passion for performing arts was further developed. During his summer days, he is is enrolled at The Repertory Philippines Foundation in Makati City. For almost a decade, he consumes his summer attending the prestigious theatre school. He took up his pre-elementary up to secondary education at De La Salle Santiago Zobel n Muntinlupa City. He is currently taking up Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Performing and Visual Arts
His passion for visual arts was somehow set aside since his passion for performing arts was developed and was given focus during his childhood. In his college life, his passion for visual arts was rekindled from the environment where he was exposed. From the materials being used during rallies and other kind of protest in the university, he realized that visual arts play an important role. As another form of protest, he realized that visual arts, particularly painting, can also be utilized to raise social awareness about certain social issues. It was in his second year as a college student when he realized this. He was 19 years old back then. He also started to work and collaborate with some student organizations in the university which aims to raise awareness about social issues.

An Interview Turned to be a Reunion
In 2016, when he is in the third year of his college education, they had a special project in one of their subjects. As one of their major projects, they were tasked to come up with a theatre play that is based on a real life experience. The play must focus on a specific social issue and they chose to have the War on Drugs as the main theme of the play. Because his father is a high ranking official in the Philippine National Police, he took charge of the interview of a people involved in the war on drugs, including the police themselves, the suspects, the families of the drug suspects, etc. In the course of his interview, he met a middle-aged man, man in the name of Ongkoy, or Faustino Balagtas in real life, who was caught in one of the drug buy-bust operations of the Philippine National Police as part of their War on Drugs. He interviewed him about his past experiences, his family background and his involvement on drug. He found out that Faustino Balagtas once lives in Baseco Compound in the City of Manila. Upon the death of her wife while giving birth to their first born child, he turned over their child to an orphanage in the City of Manila, known as the Hospicio de San Jose. As far as Fasutino remember, the name of their child is Raphael Balagtas. After turning over the child to the orphanage, he did not have other news about his son. They are living in the City of San Jose del Monte in Bulacan when he was caught in the drug buy-bust operation.

To have an comprehensive research, he went to the Hospicio de San Jose to look for the account of a child named Raphael Balagtas who was turned over to the orphanage in 1996. From the files of the children being turned over and adopted from the orphanage, he found a certain Raphael Balagtas who was born on August 15, 1996 to Faustino and Berlinda Giron-Balagtas. The boy was later adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Fernando and Annabelle Melissa Hernandez-Joaquin who is a childless couple. He then realized that he is Raphael Balagtas who is the son of Berlinda and Faustino Balagtas whom he interviewed in the prison. He realized that his parents who raised him are his adoptive parents and his biological father is Faustino Balagtas, who is currently imprisoned because of drugs and his mother is Berlinda, who died while giving birth to him.

Early Influences
From the time when he collaborated with some university organizations in 2016 about certain protest arts, his passion on visual arts was rekindled. From that time, he began exhibiting some of his works together with artworks of known contemporary artists. Together with his other contemporary artists, who are mainly composed of amateur artists, they established their own student organization under the title ‘UP Pintados’ which aims to empower young visual artists, particularly young painters, to develop their passion in art. The following year, he mounted his first solo exhibit entitled ‘Humayra’ in the university campus. The main subject of arts in the exhibit is War on Drugs. He further gained popularity for the said exhibit that is why he became famous under the name ‘Humayra’. Aside from his university-based organization, he is currently collaborating with his contemporary artists outside the university to build another organization.

Career
Miguel Antonio ‘Humayra’ Joaquin by the age of 20 had already mounted his first exhibit at the Jorge B. Vargas Museum in UP Diliman which was entitled ‘HUMAYRA’ which meant blood. The reason behind the famous name ‘Humayra’ was because it meant blood that signified life, and Miguel Antonio Joaquin’s artwork are always perceived to show life. Moreover, real life events have always been the main subject of his artworks. ‘Humayra’ always rises to the occasion to stand for justice, peace, and the rights of the people. His exhibits were themed to open the minds of the viewers to what reality is and what people are failing to see.

‘Humayra’ was known for his visual arts that raise awareness about social issues. His first known painting was a mural entitled ‘Sa Ilalim ng Puting Kumot’ which can be seen today as one of the featured artwork in the National Museum of Fine Arts, and a copy was recently installed in the CCP complex last June 2019.

|Sa Ilalim ng Puting Kumot |D.L. Umali Hall

He is a well known personalty in the University of the Philippines Diliman for most of his works are displayed in the university and would most often be exhibited in other UP campuses such as UP Los Banos. Last August 26, 2019 in the DL Umali Auditorium of UPLB ‘Humayra’ had an exhibit named as “NOTE” that was themed to remind students to take note and never forget about cruelty of the Martial Law. He also gave talks to the students to assert their rights as an ‘Iskolar ng Bayan’ and to give value to art as something that can be utilized to express freedom.

Style and Technique
Humayra's style of art employs the use of dull colors in his paintings. The elements in his works are often consisting of only few objects or characters and is sometimes regarded as a minimalist approach. On his other artworks, he strictly only uses black ink or paint and avoids adding other extra details in order to convey only the message he wanted to impart to the viewers.

His composition is being regarded as peculiar because of its unusual or creepy portrayal of people as characters in a piece of his artwork. Although sometimes diverting to using human figures, objects represent people in some of his artworks. Also contributing to this peculiarity is the dark mood or vibe where his artworks are pivoted to. It is his main objective to make his artwork seem pessimistic.



His works reflect the political and national issues in the Philippines. Some of the examples are the extra judicial killings, poverty and youth imprisonment. Most of his works convey a message to the mass regarding the current situation of the minority groups in the country.

The theme of his works are usually based on a specific issue in the Philippines that he emphasizes with or something he had actually experienced.

Critical Evaluation and Legacy
At such a young age, Humayra has been starting to make a name for himself in the field of art gaining various reactions from the public. His artworks are often showcased in various exhibits across Metro Manila. He further utilized his budding influence and flourishing talent in art to organize and mobilize for certain social issues.

Public Reaction
The artworks of Miguel calling for awareness and action on social issues were overflowed with praises and support from different organizations and individuals such as Association of Human Rights Advocates, BUHAY, former Ombudsman Leticia Cruz, and Human Rights advocate Leonardo Carpio. Moreover, art critics have positively responded to his works of an effective incorporation of extraordinary themes using various techniques. His artworks were recently labeled by his fellow artist Alvin Dulce as "symbolic and peculiarly relevant."

Other than praises and commendations, Miguel also received support from private individuals through sponsorship for his exhibits and commissions for his artworks. Some of his artworks were also presented in collaborative exhibits with his fellow artists.

Despite all these support, criticisms are inevitable considering his father's prominent and enabling role in the controversial Drug on Wars which sparks up other social issues in the country. His opposing actions with the things his father stands up for are often called by his critics as "child's tantrums" claiming that his artworks are just a form of rebellion against his father due to personal reasons and not really for social awareness. However, there has been no reports of any dispute between the father and son regarding this issue.

This criticism led some to question the genuineness of Miguel's intentions of raising social awareness and concern. A conspiracy theory regarding this issue started to rise stating his father planned this in order to gain sympathy from the general public as he suffers from a rebellious child.

Aside from limited resources, this may have limited his exhibits since the public has been doubting the messages he attempts to deliver in his artworks. Nonetheless, Miguel continues spreading his advocacy through social media accounts such as Facebook and Instagram.

Art for Humanity's Sake (AHS)
From arousing the public with their artworks with themes of social issues, a group of artists, including Miguel, formally formed themselves to promote exhibits on public spaces, like the University of the Philippines, since they believe that art is for everyone's appreciation and consumption. Their organization is called Art for Humanity's Sake (AHS). They believe art is meant for the public, especially that their art focuses more on socially relevant issues and they would like to utilized its abilities and power to deliver the message they want to convey to their targeted audience.

Furthermore, this organization of artists also aim to educate and promote protest art to the present generation as a form of mobilization regarding different social issues. They believe that the purpose of art is not merely aesthetic but it is an instrument to invite and encourage people to empathize, socialize, and participate in issues that concern humanity. They would like to instill that art has a purpose of serving the greater good that contributes to human welfare.

Their advocacies are also promoted in their Facebook and Instagram pages.