Born in Baguio in the Cordillera region of the Philippines, artist Santiago Bose (1949-2002), also known as “Santi” or “Santibose”, was a co-founder of the Baguio Arts Guild and a leader of the Baguio art scene. He is known for his innovations in medium and was concerned with developing more indigenous materials for art as well cultivating ties with respective local communities. Both form and content then were important to him in developing a national art. This consciousness probably arose from when he was still a student in the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts. In particular, Bose recalled when his teacher, the abstractionist Constancio Bernardo, suggested he use “imported colours” to improve the colouring of his works. Santi is then quoted in one article in 1981 as saying “Our models in art are Western. Maybe, it’s time for us to make our own models. To be international is to be Filipino first. We have a broken tradition… and I’m going to try to mend in my own way.” “Drown My Soul in Chico River” (1981), also known as “Bury My Soul in Chico River,” is a work made by Santiago Bose in response to the protest of the Kalinga people, part of the ethnic group known as Igorots, to stop the Chico River dam project. The dam project would have permanently flooded their ancestral lands and despite being under the rule of Martial Law, the Kalinga people managed to successfully stop the project. It is an important subject matter reflecting the artist’s concerns on the issues of the local tribes/people from the Cordillera region where he was born. The title of the work comes partly from a book written in 1970, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.” Bose, who spent time in the US, was influenced by the increased activism of minority groups there such as the American Indians.Bose received the Thirteen Artists award in 1976 and his works are in the collections of Cultural Center of the Philippines, Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), Western Front (Vancouver), Centro Wilfredo Lam (Havana) among others.
