London Biennale

I dedicate this short essay to the amazing women and men I know who have been making masks to donate and have used their art and skills for agency of empowerment and tangible evidence of their love and solidarity with their communities!


These Are Not Just Masks
By Karlota Contreras-Koterbay

The COVID-19 pandemic has put the global economy into a halt, cities, towns, became liminal spaces wherein a mask serves not only as a health necessity to lessen risk of contagion, but its presence, or more appropriately the absence of it from frontline health and ‘necessary workers, mirror the political and economic agendas, thus, it becomes an object of power or symbol of disenfranchisement, and more. These are not only masks but bargaining objects of power, those favored are given ‘manna’ in form of masks while opposition states are left to fend for themselves.

These are not only masks but precious commodity, the hoarding of it brings economic opportunities while its distribution reinforce the laws of supply and demand. The masks visualizes the convoluted interconnectedness of politics and global economy, it has ultimately became symbol of the harbinger of death or objects of diplomacy. In western countries, the wearing of the mask symbolizes a health crisis that supposedly, first world countries need not worry; their citizens’ entitled, naive and sheltered existence are shattered, disillusioned. The veneer of power is pulled down to its knees, why is there need of masks for protectIon when those kinds of epidemics only happen on poor countries?

It also became abject to religious confusion, a ‘talisman’ object that encouraged cultish behavior, brought out the ugly, deeply held racial and religious supremacy of the supposed ‘prolife Christians’ who had no hesitation to succumb to violence, blind faith and shameless promises for salvation while sacrificing the old and the weak of the to the altar of Wall St.

These are not only masks but agents for communal solidarity, for fashion and for empowerment. Women, artists, volunteers sew homemade masks in order to address the scarcity and volunteered to donate them to hospitals and senior homes. During quarantine, it served as agency for empowerment, being able to use one’s skill as pushback to the stay at home order and as tangible forms of community solidarity in the midst of social isolation. Some have made masks that are simple, plain functional, while others chose fabric that are representative of their aesthetics. Some have used it for art expression while some have made it as technical challenges to employ their skills and tools.

These are not just masks, but documents, the visual evidence on a certain part of history in the age of COVID-19. History is said to be written by victors, selective written documents, documented statements by those in power, demonizing people of science, discrediting research and denouncing information from the powerless. Yet, these masks, millions of them, worn by those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and those who have survived the pandemic are strong evidence that may not be denied nor erased from history and the memories of the millions of people in all parts of the world who have lived and witnessed that the mask is not only a mask.


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The work is a collaboration between myself and my father, Rey Paz Contreras.
The photograph itself is entitled '(Un)Masking of the Old Normal'

A collaborative work of Rey Paz Contreras and
Karlota Contreras-Koterbay

The sculpture by Rey Paz Contreras is originally entitled 'US Imperialism in the Philippines,' and was exhibited in New York in 1998 in commemoration of the centennial of the Philippines-American War and the 1898 Treaty of Paris. The work is also recipient of Juror's Award at the Fl3tcher Exhibit of Social and Politically-Engaged Art in 2016


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Filipino Sculptor Rey Paz Contreras

Artist’s Statement 

“We are all living within the reality of globalization and ecological uncertainty. As artists, we serve as beacon of inspiration and agents for change to empower our communities. My art practice adheres to the mission to raise critical awareness, stimulate creativity and inspire involvement for valuable action to address the pressing issues of society’s plight for collective identity and produce work that contribute to ecological revitalization.

Influenced by the wisdom of Philippine indigenous traditions, I seek the balance between art, people and the environment. The Contreras art practice employs the repurposing of materials, using discarded materials as art media, transforming junk into valuable objects; thus producing sustainable art without sacrificing the environment.

As a Filipino artist and citizen of the world, I commit my art as vanguard of cultural heritage; working within the realities of the countries’ political and economic plight in the midst of globalization as an inevitable path.

My art was shaped by the political turmoil during the Philippines' Martial Law in the 1970s. I pioneered the use of travieza (railroad ties), a non traditional art medium for practical considerations and as environmental /political statement. My experimentation on media includes retrieved wood, river and volcanic stones and repurposed junk metals and other urban refuse to create art that has less impact on nature. My art attempts to bridge the divide between high art and folk craft by sculpting functional art and conducting art trainings in the regions to develop artistic potentials outside the academia.

I believe that art must be socially-responsible, a vital tool for the empowerment of lives and enrichment of thought. I consider the community as a way of life and not mere statistics, valued as a resource of strength and beneficiary to the innovative and creative endeavors of artists.

- Rey Paz Contreras


About The Artist

Rey Paz Contreras is a Filipino sculptor based in Manila, Philippines. His work is inspired by the indigenous values of symbiotic relationship of humans to the land and its ecology. As a sculptor, Contreras has pioneered the use of retrieved railroad tracks commonly known as travieza as art material, as well as his trademark of texturizing junk stainless steel into sculptural forms.

Contreras teaches rural and urban poor communities to use salvaged and available materials such as scrap metal, drift wood, river stones, native fibers, bamboo and volcanic ash among others, as art materials, as vital element to his art philosophy of art empowering communities. Since the 1990s, he has trained artisans, sculptors and artists outside the academia to create sculptural forms using readily available materials with the philosophy of protecting the environment and using art as agency for empowerment. In 2004, he trained the town folks in General Nakar, Quezon who were devastated by flooding that eradicated the whole town out of the map. He taught wood carving and encouraged the trainees to use the drift wood that wiped out their community to create sculptural forms inspired from nature, thus, the creation of wooden fish, birds and various fauna became the first ouvre for the Banglos Carvers who are now touring the country exhibiting their crafts. More recently, he has trained some people from the community devastated by the Yolanda super typhoon, known internationally as Haiyan, to make art pieces as an alternative livelihood.

His work has been exhibited in the Philippines and various countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Middle East, the Netherlands, Singapore and the US.

Contreras is an established sculptor and art organizer in the Philippines, he served as former Board Director for the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP), Ex-Officio for the Society of Philippine Sculptors (SPS), and member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP). His work is in the collection of the National Museum of the Philippines, Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (MET) among others. He has received national art awards including the Grand Prize in Sculpture for his work ‘Kalikasan’ during the 1992 Annual AAP National Art Competition, and the prestigious Patnubay ng Sining from the City of Manila (1994). In 1986, his work represented the Philippines at the 2nd Havana Biennial in Cuba, after a series of exhibitions in Canada. He is recipient of the first international award Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc (BAFI) for ‘The Trees,’ an environmental public art and the first permanent structure unveiled at the Bonifacio Global City (1997). 


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Karlota Contreras-Koterbay (b. 1978, Filipinix)

As an Appalachian-based Filipinx artist, curator and art administrator, Karlota Contreras-Koterbay navigates the world through the lens of a post-colonial citizen, a cultural activist tasked to provide agency for empowerment through art.

Contreras-Koterbay is Director of Tipton and Slocumb Galleries under the Department of Art & Design at East Tennessee State University. She creates work, writes grants and curates exhibitions that investigate the nuanced issues of diversity, racial/gender equity, mobility/immigration, and hybrid/liminal identities. She is a recipient of the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Grant, as well as state/private grants funding that provide access to diverse, inclusive and critical projects aimed to encourage discourse and collaborative engagement.

Contreras-Koterbay curates exhibitions that feature artists of color, diverse gender orientations (women, LGBTQ, etc) and those in the minority who need visibility and self representation. Some of her projects include: ‘Manlalakbay: Filipina/o Diaspora and Hybrid Identity’ (2017), ‘Black Appalachia (2017), ‘Owasv and Din’etah: The Self and Homeland in Indigenous America (2015), EQUAL: Modern Family in America’ and 'Politics of Representation: Re-Imaging Indigenous America From Warhol to Map(ing)' (2014), Envisioned Landscape (2013), and 'Crafting Contemporary Art: Studio Craft in Appalachia' (2010). She also organizes international exchanges such as Studio Arts Center International Exhibit (2007) in Florence, Italy; Filipina as Artist and Feminist' (2008); Frolic: Humor and Mischief in New Taiwanese Art (2008); Neo-Garde: Contemporary South Korean Art (2010); and New APP: Contemporary Art In Appalachia (2012) in Ulsan, South Korea. Her Diverse and Empowered project received the Tennessee Association of Museum’s (TAM) Award of Excellence for Exhibition Series and Award of Commendation for Publication during the 2019-2020 season.

She has served as Juror for state and regional exhibitions or artists’ grants in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Contreras-Koterbay initiated the university-wide ETSU Privilege Walk and has served on various museums’ exhibition committees in the region. She is a Panelist for the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Education and At-Risk Youth Grants and was nominated for the Tennessee Governor’s Award for the Arts (2016). She is a recipient of the ETSU Distinguished Staff (2013), Best New Program for Native American Festival, and the Jan Phillips Mentor Award (2015).

Contreras-Koterbay received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Master of Arts in Art History from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. She is a  member of the International Council on Museums (ICOM), Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), TN Association of Museums (TAM), Tennessean for the Arts, Association of Academic Museum & Galleries (AAMG), American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and International Association of Aesthetics (IAA). She was a former Board Director of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) and Board Member of the Committee on Art Galleries under the National Commission for Culture & the Arts (NCCA). She is founding Board Director and VP for Curatorial Programing for American Museum of Philippine Art.

Slocump Galleries, ETSU



Rey Paz Contreras on Wikipedia