A positive environment allows for positive characteristics, such as kindness, care, empathy, or generosity. Humans are highly influenced by the surroundings they are born into, and are raised to value these acquired and inherent virtues. This is what we expect, but in reality there is a more complex range of traits that arise from the human environment. Selfishness, self-preservation, apathy, or a disregard for the lives of others – these may arise from the same positive environments. We discover that choices are not that simple, and we question what makes us human. An answer might just be in our midst: in that dusty corner of the house or somewhere in the garden, as Iris Tirambulo delves into the complex behavior systems surrounding common insects, and how they reflect human tendencies.

While some spider species are known to let their young consume them, particularly in low-survival circumstances, adult spiders eating their young is rare – and not simply for food or nourishment. As the birthing mother, they are able to sense the survival capacity of their offspring, and as some are likely to fail, those are instead eaten and spared from a terrible life. Some will ask, who are they to decide for another life? Some would think it is an act of mercy.

Portraying a key phase in a life cycle, the cocoon signifies a transition from childhood to adulthood – where those once helpless and frail transform into the same capable state as their adult parents. But relationships between parent and offspring are rarely simple, and in some cases, the young end up overpowering the older, and the parents lose themselves in the dynamic. Of course this goes the other way, too, when parents impose too much of themselves, and their child loses any identity they would have developed. “Coming out of your cocoon” is not always as rewarding as it is made out to be, and some wish they could keep that robe on forever.

Commonly associated with its fluttering, hovering motions in the wind, dragonflies begin their lives as aquatic predators, but as they transition into life in the air, they shed self-created illusions that limit growth and the ability to change. Between two people, two identities, with the unique ability to move forward, backward, up and down, it is like an endless dance over the water.

Contrary to what its name suggests, a praying mantis appears to be one of the most violent creatures, depicted by its habit of consuming its mate while in the act. Sometimes the male is already dead, half-consumed by the female before it begins its purpose – allowed by a separate nervous system to continue mating. The male knows and willingly submits itself to this fate, perhaps to satisfy its own desires? When one gives everything for the other’s benefit, who gives joy to whom? A looming canvas towers in the gallery illustrating this vignette, a decapitated male in the throes of mating with his unbothered female. Somewhere in the space is the smallest work of the exhibition, the lone severed head of the male. Like the Medusa’s it is on display — a reminder of a scorned victim, switched roles.

Tirambulo’s curious collection appears as if pages from a biology book, or a segment from Animal Planet, but spend an intimate moment with any of the works, and one will discover human figures and forms, stitched into the morphology of the insects. Ranging from the personal to the poignant, these images burrow into our understanding of human relations, and at times look back at the viewer: a mirror.

Taking an introspective, highly conscious approach to her unconventional tapestries of found and upcycled fabric, she toiled many months towards unravelling these situations. Layering mostly muted colors, she stitches and sews through intuitive cuts of cloth, in gestures that parallel those of painting.

Halad, a Bisaya word, largely translates to an “offering.” As an exhibition, it is the same. Each of the stories straddle the fragile thread that connects us to a specific humanity – one that similarly separates us from our animalistic tendencies. When given a choice that is utterly logical, we seek the one that involves our chosen compromise. If a sacrifice has to be made, then it shall be. What we give up in order to gain, what we leave behind in order to move forward – these are the things we offer to the universe, even if our lives are a mere speck in its vast and immeasurable fabric.

By Koki Lxx