MANILA, Philippines – An art installation in De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) portrays the plight of train commuters by making the trains a part of their daily school life.
Students enrolled in different courses of DLS-CSB’s School of Design and Arts created the art installation. Its pictures were shared by Twitter user @ajJORQUIN_ and immediately went viral.
SDA proves again that Art is political and is a platform for social relevance.
pic.twitter.com/jDOj75Yy7D— Brenda From Logistics (@ajJORQUIN_) March 26, 2018
He wrote that art can be a “platform for social relevance.” It featured the doors of LRT-1 with scenes of cramped passengers.
Captions in relation to train-related woes were seen on the lower side of the doors.
Some of it reads, “When is the change coming?,” “Sira na naman!,” “Mag-ingat sa paghakbang,” and “Ang haba ng pila.” DLS-CSB can be accessed through LRT-1’s Vito Cruz Station.
Many students and faculty ride the train to get to the school.
As of February 2018, around 500,000 people ride LRT-1 on a regular basis, according to news reports.
Light Rail Manila Corp (LRMC) COO Rodolfo Chansuyo shared that there was a “big increase” in terms of passenger ridership from 2015.
Daily struggles of commuters
The scenes of the cramped passengers were based on a photograph by Benilde student Clems Dela Cruz Sr.
He noted that his photo aimed to capture the “daily struggles of commuters as they partake in traveling from home to work or vice versa.”
Furthermore, he shared that he wanted to capture the riding public in their “moments of discomfort.”
Aside from the LRT-1, the trains of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) also suffered regular breakdowns prompting multiple Senate public inquiries.
In recent months, the MRT-3's lowest number of running trains was seven, causing severe delays and long queues in its stations.
The scenes of the cramped passengers were based on this photograph by Benilde student Clems Dela Cruz Sr.
Please mind the gap
Erickson Jao, executive director of the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde Alumni Association, said that the art is actually the elevator doors of the ninth-story building of CSB’s School of Design and Arts.
He wrote that it was a “collaborative work” among the students mentored by artist Manny Montelibano.
He wittingly added, “Pls mind the gap (the difference)” to give attention to how students queue in the elevator doors in relation to how passengers queue in LRT-1 platforms.
Jao also shared a picture that featured the students lining up to the elevator doors.