That's a framed print of Joey Velasco's Hapag ng Pag-asa, the late painter's version of The Last Supper. Many months ago, I was fascinated by the stories behind each street-urchin who Joey adopted and made to pose for his painting. I remember one of the girls was raped by her father, another lived in the cemetery, a boy was called Onse because of the two lines of snot that kept flowing from his nose, another holds the agony of knowing his father was selling his mother's flesh to make ends meet, or to sustain a gambling habit. The book, however, did not give the names of the children, but the You Tube video did.
Big prints of this painting no longer adorn the back of buses, no more giant billboards either in front of malls. Its ascension to popularity has waned. So my heart jumped when, after buying some books and comics from Book Sale, I saw this framed edition of Joey's painting (P495) at the St. Paul branch nearby. It is home now, with foundling Jun-Jun, now also in our home, looking at the new addition to my Stamp Room. Problem is I'm looking for wall space to hang this splendid painting, which reminds me that my problems are piddling compared to what the children in Joey's painting had gone through.
Di ba tapos ito,. See blog sa ibaba nito...
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