MANILA, Philippines - Picture a five-year-old girl being told, “Always wash your pengpay or your husband will not kiss it.†Prudent, yet raw, considering that “pengpay†was the euphemism of choice that Mich Dulce’s mother used in place of the word vagina. The multi-hyphenate milliner-slash-corsetiere-slash-designer’s first solo exhibit, “One Day I’ll Be Everything You Ever Wanted,†juxtaposes feminism with a heavy dose of Filipina mommy issues. A house so pink and pristine, built by all the good and bad stuff mommy tells her darling daughter when she’s too young to understand.
Things don’t get real until children reach a certain age. Mich took a few years to digest her mother’s advice, thank goodness, because no one really wants a kindergarten student obsessing too much over whether or not her vertical smile is ready for some very adult making-out action. She recounts, “When I was 13, I finally got what it meant.†With menarche comes a heavy whiff of reality — feminists, please stay to the left with the rest of the haters while my boyfriend is preparing dinner as I type, so there go our predefined gender roles — no one wants to have a smelly cat.
Sisters, listen up: Take a note from Mich. Scrawl her mother’s words onto your bathroom mirror. Read them every single day. Chalk it up to rote learning — keep repeating until it becomes etched in your memory.
In the world of “One Day I’ll Be Everything You Ever Wanted,†things are steeped in pink paint. A dress, a corset and a pair of shoes are stiff and mounted on a wall. Instead of the color wash macerating such feminine effects, the thick carnation crayon hue causes them to harden. They have become insensible and cloyingly aggressive; like girlhood ideals that fail to materialize and stubborn fetishes that devour our dreams.
Mich is a self-styled “girly girl.†She makes ladylike hats, ladylike corsets, but definitely does not wear unladylike jeans. Which is good, because any gynecologist will tell you that a skirt is better for letting your pengpay breathe and keeping it fresh. “In a way, because my mom taught me these things, they’re all evident in my life,†Mich explains.
“After your husband makes love to you always say thank you,†says another sign, this time as a headboard above a bed. It’s a nice reminder from Mich’s maker that one must always be polite, and to never forget what your mother told you whenever you have sex. However, these days it is a conversation rather than a sermon, a symbiotic exchange between Mich and her mother. “As you know,†Mich expresses, “Filipino moms tend to teach their children how to be submissive.†But the process of physically assembling the installation proved to be an exercise in role reversal for both women, with mother acquiescing to daughter.
The artist suffered an asthma attack and was hospitalized during the days leading up to the show. At her most fragile moment, Mich Dulce enlisted the help of her mother to piece together “everything†she had been told as a kid. “She wasn’t supposed to see it until it was finished, but since I got sick, she had to install it,†Mich recounted. “I tried to teach her everything, and, oh my God, she saw all the things I wrote about her!†A touching vision came over me — one of a mother arranging an exploding ikebana of artificial roses in a mirrored toilet bowl because her daughter was sick.
In the world of “One Day I’ll Be Everything You Ever Wanted,†such absurdities occur. I scanned the room and saw the materfamilias, Hermès Kelly bag in tow, chatting with French diplomats. She looked proud of what she had done, of her work, of Mich Dulce.
* * *
“One Day I’ll Be Everything You Ever Wanted†will be on exhibit at Finale Art File from Jan. 8 to 30. Finale Art File is located at Warehouse 17, La Fuerza Compound (Gate 1), 2241 Chino Roces Ave., Makati City; tel. nos. 813-2310 and 812-5034. Gallery hours are from Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.