LOCAL artist Fe Sumagaysay has shared her various styles and tones of MassKara masks that she colored to stimulate and rekindle the celebratory spirit of the MassKara festival.
Sumagaysay is known for her various artworks and masterpieces that she inherited from her father Lor, who is also a remarkable artist.
She shared her various masks to show that Bacolodnons continue to value the festival that emphasized the people's strength and resilience in rising above the hardship previously effected by the sugar industry and the sinking of the ill-fated Don Juan vessel that travels from Manila to Bacolod and vice versa that unfortunately claimed the lives of numerous Bacolodnons and Negrenses in the year 1980s.
The birth of the MassKara festival also allowed local artists to showcase their talents in the fields of arts and festivity.
She said: "My artworks have helped me express my passion and fascination in the paintings and other masterpieces. This is one of my outlets when I want to purge some loads. It is natural in me that when I have my spare time, I do my paintings and do some portraits which helped me hone my skills in the arts. It also helps me uncover some of my inner potential in the area of the arts."
These masks showed various moods of faces including ideas that land in various minds.
The colors and designs also depend on the kind of mood I had when I was making the masks.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of local artists have kept their memorabilia of the MassKara festival, which helps everyone enjoy a peek of the world-renowned MassaKara festival, she said.
Bacolod is connected with the MassKara festival, wherein in the previous years has drawn thousands of merrymakers to come to Bacolod to celebrate with the locals the biggest festival held annually in the City of Smiles.
It is only in 2020 that this big festival was postponed due to the restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
But no one is restricted to have some recollections about the festival that brought smiles and income to various artists and entrepreneurs with the holding of the festival that almost runs to more than 20 days of festivities.
October is declared as a Tourism month in the City of Bacolod that authorized the institutionalization of the MassKara festival.