Jana engages with discarded materials and remnants of everyday life in and around the city. Over time, her art making developed into creating mixed media works, installation art and photography, alongside painting and, later on, ceramics.
Tierra Quemada is a recognition of this experience of giving life back to things that have been abandoned and rendered useless. The show is a mirror of objects that have been burned and destroyed, as with her assemblage “Fortress” and other past works, and the addition of recent ceramic works that, in contrast, are objects that she has created out of nothing, instead of intentionally seeking them. Many times the clay that she works with starts to take control and rebuilds itself into another fortress.
These clays are sourced through her own research and were personally dug by her from the earth. This is part of her journey, and her intent is to turn the mud into representations of things razed down to the ground and of abandoned physical objects and personal unpleasant experiences. Tierra Quemada literally burns the recent works that had passed through her fingers; what is left are presented at the exhibition to embody something rising from the ashes.
Jana sees herself as the clay tower, and all the details carved on each panel are pieces of her soul and spirit, her entire being. The fire on top of the tower symbolizes the burning and release of these pieces, which are then reflected on the wall, as if she were witnessing pieces of herself on the wall. Thus, “Tierra Quemada”, which translates to “scorched earth” from her native Chavacano language, is a visual echo of her struggles, liberation and eventual redemption.
Jana Jumalon is a visual artist and a singer-songwriter. She was born and raised in Zamboanga City. In 2001, she launched her solo music concert at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. She has also been consistently active as a visual artist and has been awarded as one of the Top 10 Finalists for Visayas in the 2011 Philippine Art Awards. Her works have been featured in several international and local exhibitions, the most recent ones being Bae Mindanaw (Italy, 2011), Habagatan (Altromondo Gallery, 2012), All Together Now (Yuchengco Museum, 2012), 50 Ilonggo Artists (Ayala Museum, 2013) and Everything About this Girl (Solo Exhibition, Silliman Foyer Art Gallery, 2014). With the support of Ateneo de Zamboanga University, she is currently writing the songs for an all-Chavacano musical about last year’s Zamboanga siege to be staged this year.
Her eclectic selection of styles mirrors a predilection of collecting random objects and photographs of whatever catches her eye. One such notable series of works is – Mirrors, she tags them – makes use of her fascination for the forms of old, found objects by incorporating them to the work, establishing new relationships for them, and infusing them with life long after the objects have been discarded by its previous owners.
Jana Jumalon’s travels and passions, her ups and downs have built up to a collection of works where we get a glimpse of mortality with all its scars and triumphs.
Her other representative works include self-portraits, terracotta pieces and portraits of children. Her female forms evoke masculine strength and her paintings of children suggest an overwhelming empathy where her subjects’ emotions are powerful enough to warp the reality around them.
Jana belongs to the Jumalon family of artists and has been a part of many family exhibits in Zamboanga City, Baguio, Metro Manila, Dumaguete, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Davao, and Dipolog. She moved to Dumaguete twelve years ago—a city which has witnessed her various passions in painting, terra cotta artmaking, and music. Jana Jumalon lives in Dumaguete City.
