Josephine Turalba
Borrowed Moonlight, 2025
Embroidered hand-dyed piña-silk panel in deep teal
320 x 76 cm
Further images
This panel unites myth, ritual, and watery geographies. At its center, a Bakunawa-like serpent arcs across the cloth, pulling the moon into its mouth—a gesture linking cosmic legend with the...
This panel unites myth, ritual, and watery geographies. At its center, a Bakunawa-like serpent arcs across the cloth, pulling the moon into its mouth—a gesture linking cosmic legend with the concentric waters of Taal’s crater lake and Nakanojo’s springs. Around it, marine creatures drift in quiet procession: manta rays bear subtle domes, jellyfish trace spirals, and octopuses weave among star-like satellites, folding movement and sensing into a shared landscape.
A school of fish-creatures spirals across the panel, carrying instruments from Filipino and Japanese traditions—kulintang, bamboo flutes, gongs, taiko drums—turning sound into ritual and memory. Stitched texts in Baybayin, Tagalog, Japanese, and English evoke story and sound, drifting across seas and thresholds.
Embroidered Texts:
● INDIGENOUS PERCUSSION
● NATIVE DEFENSE DEPLOYED
● ᜑᜒᜈᜊᜒ ᜈᜄ᜔ ᜊᜓᜏᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ ᜆᜓᜊᜒᜄ᜔ (May halimuyak ang dilim sa ilalim. / “There is fragrance in the darkness below.”)
● 聞こえない音も、記録される。(Even unheard sounds are recorded.)
● 空を守る者たち。(Those who guard the sky.)
● 月を呑んだ龍。(The dragon who swallowed the moon.)
● 音は記憶を運ぶ。(Sound carries memory.)
● ᜊᜃᜓᜈᜏ ᜐᜎᜓᜃ᜔ᜆ (Bakunawa sa Lawa / “Bakunawa in the Lake”)
A school of fish-creatures spirals across the panel, carrying instruments from Filipino and Japanese traditions—kulintang, bamboo flutes, gongs, taiko drums—turning sound into ritual and memory. Stitched texts in Baybayin, Tagalog, Japanese, and English evoke story and sound, drifting across seas and thresholds.
Embroidered Texts:
● INDIGENOUS PERCUSSION
● NATIVE DEFENSE DEPLOYED
● ᜑᜒᜈᜊᜒ ᜈᜄ᜔ ᜊᜓᜏᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ ᜆᜓᜊᜒᜄ᜔ (May halimuyak ang dilim sa ilalim. / “There is fragrance in the darkness below.”)
● 聞こえない音も、記録される。(Even unheard sounds are recorded.)
● 空を守る者たち。(Those who guard the sky.)
● 月を呑んだ龍。(The dragon who swallowed the moon.)
● 音は記憶を運ぶ。(Sound carries memory.)
● ᜊᜃᜓᜈᜏ ᜐᜎᜓᜃ᜔ᜆ (Bakunawa sa Lawa / “Bakunawa in the Lake”)