A mural spreading awareness of our endangered species enlivens a blank wall space at The Gallery in Mabolo, Cebu City featuring the Philippine Cuckatoo, Black Shama and Cebu Flowerpecker, as well as tropical local flowers such as the Bougainvillea, Calachuchi, Gumamela, Birds of Paradise and Santan. This striking piece of artwork recently unveiled was conceptualized by Ayla Gomez and Stefan Garcia of JEG Development Corp. and accomplished by Hannah Soi Obcial, a Cebu-based mural artist and visual designer.
Gomez shares three things that she felt were important to the artwork, believed to be the biggest mural in Cebu City.
“First, that it would look beautiful and be visually stimulating. Second, that it would somehow be interactive so that it would encourage people to come close to the wall to view it. Last, that it is most crucial for us to represent our colorful Filipino culture in this fun and lively City of Cebu. On top of creating a beautiful picture, Stefan and I together with Hannah wanted to highlight these birds found in our own home, that we feel not too many people know about.
“Creating awareness for both animals and plants, let’s not wait for the day when we can only see them painted on a wall.”
For enthusiast and talented artist Obcial, she has been painting on walls for four years.
“My favorite thing to paint is nature where I can go with the flow with beauty and irregularity. I also love the feeling of painting nature on concrete because I feel like I’m immortalizing something threatened by human infrastructure on human infrastructure itself. And when I take a break from painting, I like to go outside and explore mountains, caves and rivers,” she said.
The giant mural, which took Obcial just two months to accomplish, is located at The Gallery on Golam Drive, Mabolo, Cebu City.