Empowering Art
Cecille Pauline Sanglap Montenegro (Yllang)I

am a feminist, an artist, and a former migrant worker.
I always wanted to draw and paint since I was a child. But the pursuit of my dream of becoming a visual artist ended when I had to work
abroad because of poverty. I and my four siblings were neglected by ourparents after my father returned home as an Overseas Filipino Worker in
Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s.
As the eldest child, I chose to work for my family. But I also tried to
study at the same time. I studied fine arts and majored in interior design
at the University of the East Caloocan City, Philippines from 1998 to 2000
because I wanted to become a designer or artist. But I had to give up myeducation when I was seventeen years old when I decided to go to Japan in2000 to work as an overseas performing artist (opa). As an opa in Japan, I
experienced different kinds of harassment and abuse that led me to pursue
my fight as an individual. When I met people from Batis-aware in 2015 andheard the stories of women and children who were suffering from lack ofsupport from their Japanese husbands/partners or fathers, I decided to workfor the rights of the migrant women who returned to the Philippines with
their children, who were mostly abandoned by their fathers. I also became
interested in supporting the transnational children.1
After a decade of working in Japan, I returned to the Philippines forgood. In 2014, I started to paint in my own studio, Yllang Artworks. I also
became an active book illustrator, designer, layout artist, writer and editor
registered with the National Book Development Board.
I am currently taking a course on fine arts majoring in painting at the
University of the Philippines, Diliman.
I also became a member of Linangan ng Kulturang Pilipino, visual artist
section, an organization that promotes nationalist culture and kasibulan(Kababaihan para sa Bagong Sibol na Kamalayan) an all women artists’ organization of the Philippines.

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Migrants Advocacy through Art
In the Philippines, I became interested in the plight of Filipino women who
have children with Japanese men. Some of them were married to Japanesemen, similar to my case. Having known the Batis Center for Women (Batis),a Philippine non-governmental organization focusing on Filipino migrant
women, I volunteered to join the center.
I was elected President in 2015 of an organization supported by Batis
consisting of migrant women. This was the Association of Women in Action
for Rights and Empowerment (Batis-aware). I supported the programs ofBatis-aware regarding the following:
1. Breaking down barriers to access to justice for women survivors ofdomestic violence and trafficking in the guise of marriage (affectedby expensive and tedious process of judicial recognition of foreign
divorce)This program includes legal consultation and exploratory discussions with concerned government agencies and legal professionals in the Philippines regarding marriages between Filipino
women and Japanese men that are considered trafficking cases.
The women receive legal support in having their divorce obtainedin Japan judicially recognized in the Philippines in the proper andleast expensive manner.
2. Struggling against the trafficking of Japanese-Filipino children andFilipino mothers to Japan; and women domestic workers to theMiddle East particularly Lebanon
This program covers self-development and empowerment activities for Japanese-Filipino children through their organization(Batis-yoghi) such as summer camps, organizational meetings,
discussion of issues, cultural exchange and exposure activities formembers of networks of supporters from Japan.
It also covers• Capacity-building and skills-training activities for themembers of Batis–aware on livelihood and entrepreneurship,
and organizational development;• Empowerment of the members of Batis–aware throughnetworking and advocacy activities using art and publications;Empowering Art

3.

37• Serving as resource persons on trafficking and domestic
violence issues, healing and rebuilding of life (through sharingof life experience) as part of network activities; and• Organizing of returned women migrant workers to become members of Batis–aware.
Promoting safe migration and ethical recruitment (discouraging
shortcuts to migration, information drive on the legal process of
migration and ethical recruitment to minimize vulnerability totrafficking).

In March 2016, fifteen women including myself joined a creative writing
workshop facilitated by Chingbee Cruz, a professor at the University of thePhilippines, a poet and Trustee of Batis-aware. In the workshop, we simply
wrote down our experiences working abroad, as if we were writing daily
journals. We also started composing poems from these experiences. In theend, all participants started to realize the importance of writing.
I recounted our fears in joining this workshop:2
Writing was a tough one, I along with 15 women of Batis
aware, were excited and [at the same time] nervous that day.
Not all of the women of Batis-aware [had] the capability andcourage to express their own experiences through writing, sosome of the women did illustrations and poetry to summarize
their stories. …[S]ome women [were] afraid and ashamed towrite their past experiences, some also [pitied] themselves [asthey recalled their experiences]. I was scared that people, thereaders, might know my past, mis[understand] my situation andbe judged.
As an illustrator, I also facilitated a separate workshop on the use ofart to add illustrations to the writings. But not all members of Batis-aware
were interested in making drawings.
The Batis-aware women collectively decided to produce a magazinethat would compile the writings and artworks produced in the creative writing workshop. We named the magazine Daloy (Flow). The first issue (Daloy
1) had fifty-six pages and was launched in August 2016. In 2018, Batis awarein collaboration with Youth and Beauty Brigade and Gantala Press published Daloy 2. The compositions in Daloy 2 are more informative and dis-38

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c · V o l u m e 9 , 2 0 1 9cuss more deeply the issues of Batis-aware, such as being migrant workers,
our rights as women, our battles in everyday life.
I saw the importance of writing while producing Daloy. Despite theweaknesses of Batis-aware, it was able to facilitate the dissemination ofstories of vulnerabilities of women migrant workers which could also be
testimonies of success. Daloy has become the voice of voiceless womenin my community of migrant workers. Through writings and illustrations,Batis-aware provides a forum to express the emotions and problems of thewomen, as well as exposes issues on addressing the shortfall of the society
and government and the current situations of women in the marginalized
sector.3 I myself get empowered in the process of producing Daloy.
Daloy became an informative material for the advocacies of Batisaware. It also helped the women in theempowerment program, with some ofthem becoming interested in writing.
I also started to write and publish online issues at World Pulse. Daloy is also
helping raise income for Batis-aware.
Sale of Daloy has become a source offunds that would help sustain the activities of the organization.

Daloy magazine4

Advocacy Program
Inspired by the stories of the women in Batis-aware who survived human trafficking and other forms of human rights abuse, I decided to use
my painting skills to empower the mothers and their children to share theirstories through art.
I got an opportunity to use art to advocate for the betterment of migrant
women when I did a mural entitled “Empowerment of all People” in a restaurant in Kobe city in 2016. This restaurant, named sala Asian Shokudo, wasestablished with the help of migrant women in the city. My connection tothis restaurant started after I met a group of Japanese students from Kwansei
Gakuin University in Hyogo prefecture during their visit to Batis-aware.
The mural, conceptualized by Mr Oku, the father of the owner (Ms
Naoko Kuroda), gave me the power to continue to use art to fight for humanrights. Some of my paintings are displayed in this restaurant.

Empowering Art

39“Empowerment of all People”5A visitor in sala Asian Shokudo describes the mural in the following
manner:6
While scanning the room, my eyes were fixated on a mural on one side of the wall of a group of women of various
complexion[s] in traditional dresses. This artwork was painted
by Cecil a couple of years ago. The women exude strength as wellas warmth and they embody the spirit written on the upper left
corner of the mural, “empowerment for all.”
To continue my support for migrants through art, I thought it would
be good to empower communities through art. Empowerment Through Art
basically facilitates interpretation of our experiences, frustrations, hopes
and dreams through poetry and painting. Personally, the effect of creating
something from my imagination and experience is liberating.
In April 2017, I set up Empowerment Through Art (eta) for this purpose. Eta initially functioned as an awareness and fund-raising campaign
vehicle for Batis-aware and for aspiring artists. Eta aims to empower people in distressed communities. It provides art workshop and art therapy to
distressed women victim-survivors of all forms of human rights violations.
I myself found out that interpreting memories (such as memories as a migrant worker) through painting has therapeutic effect.

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Other paintings in SALA Asian Shokudo

I held art workshops in different places and each workshop generally
involves several components:a. Teaching of• basic drawing concept• basic techniques on using the materials and dry media tools• basic painting techniques using wet media such as acrylic orwater color paint;b. Introduction of “I am poetry” template to encourage to put in writing what they feel and think; andc. Transforming the words they formulated that prick the heart into
artwork.
The art workshops include human rights as one of the themes of art
work.

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In 2017, I was alone in this journey. I organized everything by myself
until 2018 when eta became a group of fifteen self-taught and trained artists
who wanted to advocate the rights of migrants and to promote awarenessand change in the society through art. 7 We collaborate with individuals,organizations, institutions to serve and empower people.
I introduced eta activities to communities, organizations and academic
institutions in the Philippines (such as Batis-aware, Buklod Tao, Homenet
Cooperative, Pambansang Kongreso ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (National
Rural Women Coalition, pkkk), UP solair, University of the Philippines
Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, Infant Jesus Academy, Philippine
Commission on Human Rights, etc.) and abroad (such as Caritas Lebanon,sala Asian Shokudo in Kobe city, Art Represent London, Vital Voices andWorld Pulse).

Art workshops.

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Art workshop in a Caritas shelter in Lebanon.

Artist’s Statement
Painting is my meditation, diary and main weapon in amplifying women’svoice. I use my imagination and creativity using social artistry to create an
impact and be a voice for the voiceless women in the society. I paint what ison my mind and in my heart. My interest in and work on women and chil-“Si Berta at ang mga Bata”8

Empowering Art

43dren’s empowerment concepts inspired me to create artworks out of the stories of women in my organization. I want my artworks to become the voicesof migrant women and their children, testify to the issues that affect thembut which the general public does not know fully about. I also create art outof frustration that I am poor and lack knowledge in painting. Because ofthis, I want to improve my craft so that I can also teach low-income people
who cannot go to art school but have the talent and creativity. This is my
way of helping them find their voice so that they can raise awareness andsolve the problems affecting them, especially women and children frompoor communities. I always want to develop myself as an artist and leader. I
want to help people.
My art themes expanded from 2016 after Rodrigo Duterte became thePresident of the Philippines. Issues such as extra-judicial killing and misogyny became concepts of my artworks.
I still did not know that my art had assumed a feminist perspective until
I did the mural project in Kobe city in 2016.
Since then my paintings have focused on feminist themes. I exhibitedin several venues in cooperation with different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and institutions such as the following:9• “Yllang Artworks (Women Empowerment) and Batis-aware,” 7thPhilippine International Literacy Festival Against Forgetting, qcx
Museum, Quezon City (April 2016);•“Only women bleed,” in support of Gabriela and Linangan ng
Kulturang Pilipino, Sikat Events, Quezon City (March 2017);• Bltx Women and Queer small press expo, Better Living ThroughXeroxography at UP Village, Quezon City (May 2017)• 7 Yllang Artworks, sala Asian Shokudo, in Motomachi, Kobe,
Japan (May 2017, ongoing);• “Pangalagaan ang Kalikasan, Gawang Sining ng mga Kababaihan,
Handog kay Petrona Nakpil-Bautista” (Protect the environment:
Women’s Artworks for Petrona Nakpil-Bautista), Bahay NakpilBautista, Quiapo, Manila (17 – 30 September 2017);• “Pagsibol, Adhikain Paghilom para kay Juana,” nrh Exhibit Hall,
Far Eastern University, Manila (27 – 29 November 2017);•“Rise up, Resist!: Art exhibit on Women’s Strength and Resistanceamid violence,” House of Representatives North Wing lobby,
Quezon City (27 November - 7 December 2017);

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•
•
•
•

•
•

•
•
•
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“Women Empowerment Through Art” featured Artist in celebration of Women’s Month, Local Water Utilities Administration complex, Quezon City (19 – 23 March 2018);“Philippine Heroines” with kasibulan (Kababaihan sa Sining at
Bagong Sibol na Kamalayan), National Commission for Culture
and the Arts, Manila (26 - 31 March 2018)“Empowerment Through Art : An Exhibit for a Cause for the Benefitof Batis-aware and yoghi,” Ignition Venture Studio, Taguig city (6April – 15 May 2018);“Eta: Pop Up art Exhibit” in collaboration with Gabriela PH,
Voices of Women for Justice and Peace and Commission on Human
Rights, Commission on Human Rights, Quezon City (20 April2018);“Eta’s pearl alexandrite,” National Parks Development
Committee, Museum and Archive Gallery at the Rizal Park, Manila(April 2018 – May 2019);“Empowerment Through Art Exhibit: Connecting Informal workand Unpaid Work,” an exhibit for the 13th anniversary event ofHomenet Cooperative Philippines, in collaboration with Homenet
and UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of thePhilippines Diliman, Quezon City (6 May - 6 June 2018);“Eta’s mural: Equal Rights for Marginalized,” The School of Laborand Industrial Relations, University of the Philippines Diliman,
Quezon City (30 April 2018);“Kasibulan’s Mother’s Day exhibit: I am my Mother’s Heart,”
start101 Gallery, Diliman, Quezon city (7 – 16 May 2018);“Empowerment Through Art Exhibit: Women and Children in thecommunities: Real Struggle,” in collaboration with Commission on
Human Rights, Quezon City (9 - 31 July 2018);“Empowerment Through Art: Health and Protection for all
Women,” an art exhibit for a cause in collaboration with UP
Center for Women and Gender Studies and Homenet Cooperative
Philippines, Magsaysay Ave, University of the Philippines, Diliman,
Quezon City (24 September - 24 December 2018);“Narratives of Women Artists: When Empowering Women
Becomes Truly Empowering,” in collaboration with University ofEmpowering Art

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the Philippines and UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies,
UP Diliman Quezon City (29 March 2019).
Challenges and Future Plans
I think the number one challenge in using art for empowerment is funding.
I am glad that there are people and organizations who support and collaborate with ETA in its activities.
I really wanted to train women and children in art such as poetry andpainting. I believe that women and children are creative. Everyone, every
woman has a story to tell and art is a great way to express it.
After returning from a series of meetings in Japan in 2018,10 I thoughtof creating a place like a gallery or museum of people’s stories like the stories of migrant workers, the refugees, the trainees, student workers, etc. tolearn more about their issues and to further work on upholding the rightsof people.
The visit to Japan also inspired me to make a new painting and poem
entitled “Sirkulo ng Impukang Gahamang Kalayo,” (The Cycle of Addiction
from the Saving Fire) about the misgivings of being a migrant worker.11
I am working hard, creating artworks from my heart and believing that
someday women migrant workers will be treated equally anywhere in theworld.
Endnotes
1 Transnational children refer to children whose parents have different nationalities like Japanese-Filipino children (JFCs).
2 YLLANG Montenegro, “DALOY, Wealth of Batis-AWARE Women,” World
Pulse, 28 July 2018, www.worldpulse.com/community/users/yllang/posts/88289.
3 Montenegro, ibid.
4 Photo of two issues of Daloy magazine from yllangmontenegro, www.instagram.com/p/BpVhkrlhRc2/.
5 Photo of mural taken from SALA website, http://kobe-sala.asia/2018/11/27/
cecil%E3%81%A8sala%E3%80%82%E3%82%A8%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%AF%
E3%83%BC%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%81%AE%E9%80%A3%E9%8E%
96%E3%81%AF%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E3%81%A7%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%93%E3%8
2%8B%E3%80%82/.
6 Daniel Awigra, “Asian Women Migrant Workers Offers Food to Cure
Homesickness in Kobe Restaurant,” Magdalene, https://magdalene.co/story/asianwomen-migrant-workers-offers-food-to-cure-homesickness-in-kobe-restaurant.

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7 For information on some of my colleagues at ETA see YLLANG Montenegro,“The Power of 12: The Artists and their creations,” 18 May 2018, www.worldpulse.
com/community/users/0813freak/campaign-updates/85687.
8 Berta, www.artrepresent.com/yllang.
9 Other art exhibitions and publications

Art exhibitions:“My Prayer,” Beyond Borders Solidarity Arts and Crafts Mercadito in collaboration with Las Adelitas Art Collectives, in celebration of International
Migrants Day in Oakland, California (December 2016);“Ang Mga Bata” (The Children), bltx Better Living ThroughXeroxography, Quezon City (October 2016); 2nd National Family Court
Summit, Supreme Court of the Philippines (December 2016);“Empowerment Through Art, Organized and Curated Community
Exhibit,” in collaboration with buklod tao Organization: our story exhibit, San Mateo, Rizal (16 December 2017 – 30 January 2018);“Ggssg: Gandang Ganda Sa Sariling Gawa,” exhibitor at Cultural Centerof the Philippines, Manila (24 March 2018);“Eta: Pop Up Art Exhibit” in collaboration with Batis-aware and nbdb
National Book Development Board, Plaza Moriones, Fort Santiago, Manila(23 April 2018);
ArtSpire: An exhibit featuring self-taught artist and formally trained
artists from all over the Philippines, Start 101 Gallery, Quezon city (12 – 25
July 2018);
Empowerment Through Art Exhibit: Share your Blessings, Shareyour HeART, in collaboration with Homenet Cooperative Philippines andFelicidad Restaurant, Quezon City (11 August 11 2018 – 11 March to 2019);“Kasibulan: Colors of September,” Cadis Art Gallery, Pasig City (1 – 14
September 2018);
Empowerment Through Art : Daloy 2 book launching and E.T.A. illustrations and painting exhibit, in collaboration with Batis aware, Youth andBeauty Brigade and Gantala Press, Quezon City (20 October 2018 - 20 March2019);
Contributing artist for 2019 Ibon Foundation Planner (January 2019);“Artimonan 2019: Likhang Sining para sa Kalikasan,” an exhibit for a
cause for Grades 4 – 12 students in Atimonan, Quezon province (26 May2019);“Isyu hindi Kandidato: What food system shall we grow?,” a public mural
making with the community in collaboration with Good Food Communityand Green Peace, at Good Food Sundays, Shaw Bvd. Pasig City (5 May 2019);“The Making of Hardin ni Isko,” a public mural making with the community at Brgy. Ugong, Pasig City (21 April 2019);“Empowerment Through Art meets Dakila,” Art talk with Ms. Sandra
Torrijos at UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, UP Diliman Quezon
City;

Empowering Art

47“Empowering Artists, Art Exhibit and Talk,” Start 101 Gallery, Quezon
City (2 – 22 April 2019).

Publications:

Editor, Project Coordinator, Layout and cover design, Daloy, A collection of writings by Filipino migrant women, Youth and Beauty Brigade andGantala Press, September 2018;
Contributing illustrator and cover artist, Daloy, A collection of writings
by Filipino migrant women, Youth and Beauty Brigade, August 2016.
10
The series of meetings was held in Japan under the project entitled “International Labor Migration and the Role of Civil Society in Asia” of the
Sasakawa Peace Foundation. For more information, see “Migrant labor and humanrights: building connections between civil society in Japan and Southeast Asia,”
Sasakawa Peace Foundation, 11 January 2019, www.spf.org/en/spfnews/information/20190111_01.html.
11 Yllang Montenegro, “A Mission for Change,” World Pulse, 12 January 2019,www.worldpulse.com/community/users/yllang/posts/89535.