Breathing to Heal and Survive

By Paolo Salazar

Commissioned by Kularts as one of the five visual artists to create and paint a diwata/deity for Streets of Diwata as part of the Lakbai Diwa project, interdisciplanry artist, Paolo Salazar, shares his creative process, insights, and coping with the challenges of our times.

I am blessed to be invited as a part of a public project that envisions creative tactics for collective cultural survival, healing, and decolonization. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, I spend a lot of time reflecting on ways to deal with a year of adversity and frustration. As an interdisciplinary artist, my mind works as a filter. With whatever I am experiencing, I constantly try to figure out ways to creatively respond to express myself. For this project, I was lucky to choose the Wind/Air universal state of being as we all can relate to this specific deity/diwata and imagine their divine protective spirit. The Wind/Air deity is breath as life itself. She manifests physical and psychological healing through calming the breath, which calms the mind. Breathing calms anxieties, fear, and anger. With consistent poor air quality in California due to wildfires, our lives are disrupted, and we are forced to take shelter indoors. Breathing is further threatened by the COVID pandemic, and survival and healing take on a new meaning for my family and me.

Upon thinking about the resilience and transformative values of the diasporic Pilipinx people and myself, I first reflect on the current pandemic and social climate, and how I am prioritizing my number one responsibility: family. At my day job, I have to use literal chains on a daily basis to pull 4000-pound pallets out of freight trucks. Everyday I feel beat up, and the routine of doing the same thing is an emotional grind. I am grateful to have a job when I have family members who do not, but I feel the weight and shackles of my symbolic chains.

In a way, I see the chain as a symbol of resilience and transformation because, at the end of the day, I am stronger and can contribute to my family's well being. At the same time, I have to remind myself to breathe and meditate to keep sane and positive. I imagine the Wind/Air deity to be able to have the strength to fly and freedom to do anything she wants, despite being shackled with the weight of chains. The chains represent being tethered to responsibilities and adapting to adversity. The chains are also able to be utilized to do a variety of jobs, while the links are a symbol of interconnectivity and responsibility among human beings, resulting in a strong community.

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Paolo Salazar is a San Francisco-based interdisciplinary artist and educator, originally hailing from Baguio City, Philippines. His work has been exhibited in bathrooms, candy stores, and dive bars. Paolo has also completed public murals and private commissions around the country. Ultimately, Paolo is inspired by bringing people together in friendship and creative collaboration.