13/08/2026
BELOVED LAGGUNAWA
Melchor Bernaldo
Melchor Bernaldo goes looking for women in the stories we inherited—particularly the women of Indigenous Philippine communities whose names and lives have survived through oral traditions, legends, and epics. Some are heroines. Some are lovers. Some are warriors, goddesses, or women whose stories have been passed down for generations. Bernaldo brings the distant figures from folklore into view, as women we can finally look at.
The series opens with Beloved Laggunawa, inspired by the Kalinga Ullalim. Laggunawa is the beautiful maiden whose love was sought by Banna, the warrior who eventually won her hand. Bernaldo imagines her after the epic drama—as a tattooed woman beneath a white veil, looking directly at us. Her gaze is steady and almost challenging.
And perhaps that is what makes these women worth painting again: the stories may be old, but the women are not finished being seen.
Discover Beloved Laggunawa and more artworks that might give your imagination somewhere to wander.
