21 October, 2005

read 'em and weep...

i received this email this morning. i think i'm having a panic attack. i'm nauseous, and i think i'm actually going to be sick.

Hi Fides,

My name is Peter von dem Hagen and I was referred to you by Natasha Reichle at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

My family lived in the Philippines for 20 years and my mother collected a significant amount of tribal art. In the mid-70’s she was approached by a man from the manobo tribe in Mindanao. He said that he had found a cave with jars in it and would she be interested in purchasing them. They worked out an agreement and over the next 2 years over 50 individual pieces were sold to her. We exported them legally out of the Philippines in 1978. We sold 4 pieces to the Asian Art Museum in 1991. Other than that the collection has stayed together.

Here’s a link to some pictures of a few of the pieces:

http://www.vondemhagen.com/photoalbum/jars/

My mother is elderly now and she needs to sell them. We’ve been approached by dealers who are interested in breaking up the collection and selling individual pieces but we believe that would be a huge loss. When you look at all the faces together, you can see a whole family and you get a wonderful picture of what these people were like 1500 years ago.

Natasha mentioned that you might know a place that would be interested in them. One idea I have is to create a show about them to provide awareness and hopefully get some buyer who would keep the collection together. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your assistance.

Regards,

Peter


the significance of this is overwhelming. i don't know if the legality can be challenged. after all, we're talking Marcos era 1978, all kinds of shit was going on in the Philippines. somewhere in Manobo ancient land, a cave, a sacred burial ground, was desecrated. the "collection" left the country legally. it is realities such as this that contributes to the reason we filipinos do not know our own history - because our sacred objects, the vestiges of our ancient past, leaves the country by the container load, pillaged by collectors and art dealers, with the assistance of our own government.

my reaction to this is, well i know where you can put them... send the shit back!! it ain't yours!! but that would be nearly impossible. this "belongs" to this family now... i think i've heard of the von dem hagen's. i always hear folks say, "do you know of the von dem hagen collection?"

i'm so upset right now. and at the same time, i wonder why my path has led me to this. in a way it's obvious. i asked for this path. there is a reason this man is contacting me. these objects belong to the philippines. i know of many latin american countries right now that are pushing to reclaim their sacred and ancient objects. i don't think the philippine government has that kind of consciousness just yet.

some ideas i have to acquire these pieces...
- create a group... a society of individuals who will pool their resources and purchase the collection, not for self gain, but to return the items to its rightful place.
- contact the philippine government.. but who, and how do i know they can be trusted?
- contact the philippine national museum.
- contact my new contacts...anthropologists and philantropists, who believe that the value of these items is not just monetary, but in what it can teach its people of its rich ancient past.
- all of the above...

you know, i really have to be more careful what i wish for lately, because, oh i don't know, the gods are listening and the stars are aligned, i get everything i ask for. sometimes more than i can handle. or maybe it's not more than i can handle. maybe it's in front of me because deep inside, i know what needs to be done. am i up to the task?

oh man... i just want to go to museum openings in long dresses and high heels and laugh it up with artists and art dealers and art patrons and art directors and drink wine and eat hors d'ouvres catered by Wolfgang Puck while we dance the night away in the Wilsey court at the De Young. that's what last night was like. so much fun.

my favorite part was when i, after having consumed several glasses of fine white wine, courageously (drunkenly) accosted Dr. Emily Sano, director of the Asian Art Museum, thanked her profusely for the opportunity to exhibit t'nalak and bring the weavers over, and wouldn't the museum be interested in accepting some pieces as a gift from the society and perhaps make arrangements for a long term loan of some philippine objects because, and she agreed to this, the asian art musuem does not have too many philippine artifacts. and she was so warm and friendly and gave me her card and... to my surprise, held my hand... for the whole conversation!! "oh we are a museum with no money", she lamented. I said, "everyone tells me i'm too young to be giving gifts to museums, but it does no one any good for the objects to collect mold in my basement." "call me", she says, "and let's talk some more"....

anyway, i just want fabulous fun filled evenings like that. but i guess there's a price... the work has to be done first. and i can see it all happening. the work and the results. it's just that... can't we simply fast forward to the fabulous parties? can't i pass over the whole moral ethical cultural dilemmas?

sigh...i gotta take some tums and make some phone calls.