Who doesn’t want a witty and hard-hitting tote?
In an Instagram post, Sidney Valdez, a Filipino artist whose work “draws subjects and concept from the dreads of neoliberalism particularly in the Philippine context and juxtaposes it with meme culture,” says that he’s creating a project called @trainofttotes, a collection of canvas tote bags with hand-painted designs that are not only, at times, funny but also overtly political.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Some of the current designs feature a group of cops with the word ‘Aswang’ above their heads, a pink tote that says “Huwag Kang Papatay” (Thou Shall Not Kill), and a satirical piece titled “Fighting Cock Kills Police Chief in Philippine Raid.” If anything, these totes show not only the fragile economy of artworks and our current political climate. It also conveys the plight of full-time artists who struggle to keep themselves afloat in these bleak times (hello, pandemic).
“The main goal is to produce some of my surplus ideas that I’m not doing as an actual painting, and so now I see the work as conceptual and it’s gonna lose its purpose once it is mass-produced,” says Valdez. The bags are priced at P1,200 each and although most of them are sold out at the moment, you can expect more designs of the project soon on their Instagram.
Wear your art, folks.
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Photos from Sidney Valdez
Banner by Yel Sayo
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