Josephine Turalba
The River Lantern Mischief, 2025
Embroidered hand-dyed piña-silk panel in deep teal
247 x 76 cm
This panel imagines a water-bound festival in motion, where myths from Taal and Nakanojo converge. Spirits, creatures, and memory respond to ruptures—the sealed mouth of the Pansipit River, towns submerged...
This panel imagines a water-bound festival in motion, where myths from Taal and Nakanojo converge. Spirits, creatures, and memory respond to ruptures—the sealed mouth of the Pansipit River, towns submerged beneath Taal Lake, and echoes of Obon. Even as passages close, beings still arrive, drawn together in light, drift, and play.
Lanterns float with the surge of the berberoka, a water spirit releasing floods. The maliputo circles with a broken retablo on its back, while a kappa drifts in quiet ritual. Hybrid nudibranch–oni and nudibranch–tanuki pull a rope in mischief, watched by an oni beneath a bridge. Puffer fish, sea grapes, and other figures mingle in the current, turning water into a gathering ground where memory persists in light and play.
Embroidered Texts:
● Something laughs just below the surface.
● The bridge holds a pause—between worlds.
● naglalaro ang liwanag sa alon
—(Light plays on the wave)
● Beneath the current, a story remains.
● 流れの下に、物語が残っている。
—(Beneath the current, a story remains.)
● Between here and there flows water.
● ここ と あそこ の あいだに、水 が 流れている。
—(Between here and there flows water.)
Lanterns float with the surge of the berberoka, a water spirit releasing floods. The maliputo circles with a broken retablo on its back, while a kappa drifts in quiet ritual. Hybrid nudibranch–oni and nudibranch–tanuki pull a rope in mischief, watched by an oni beneath a bridge. Puffer fish, sea grapes, and other figures mingle in the current, turning water into a gathering ground where memory persists in light and play.
Embroidered Texts:
● Something laughs just below the surface.
● The bridge holds a pause—between worlds.
● naglalaro ang liwanag sa alon
—(Light plays on the wave)
● Beneath the current, a story remains.
● 流れの下に、物語が残っている。
—(Beneath the current, a story remains.)
● Between here and there flows water.
● ここ と あそこ の あいだに、水 が 流れている。
—(Between here and there flows water.)