IJWBAA [eej-wah] is a Filipino digital artist and the first Filipino recognized in Techspressionism. He is a neologist and the originator of Decolonial Minimalism —an art movement that reclaims minimalism through ancestral memory and cultural reawakening. His work earned a spot on the shortlist for the Hiiibrand Design and Illustration Awards 2024. His papers were published on Academia.edu.He was selected by David Quiles Guilló, Director of The Wrong, to participate in the 7th Edition of The Wrong Biennale - described by The New York Times as the digital world's answer to Venice Biennale - with Prayers to Ai, further cementing his standing in the international digital art community. His collected works, compiled in two volumes of I Just Wannabe an Artist, have been recognized, officially archived, cataloged, and made available in the collections of the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Museo Reina Sofía, the National Museum of the Philippines, Getty Research Institute, and other prominent cultural institutions worldwide. The two volumes are cataloged in WorldCat under OCLC Numbers 1530632939(Book 1) and 1530636063(Book 2).

Alamat ng Bundok Arayat

Alamat ng Bundok Arayat

Decolonial Minimalism Founding Work - Filipino Legends

Size: 1400 x 1400 pixels

Medium: Digital Art

Artist: IJWBAA

Year: 2025

Description:

Alamat ng Bundok Arayat by IJWBAA reimagines the sacred mountain as a mnemonic wave—curved, quiet, and chromatically alive. The green and blue fields meet in a soft undulation, evoking the mountain’s silhouette not through contour but through rhythm. This minimalist abstraction resists literal topography, instead offering a visual invocation of Arayat’s mythic presence. The curve becomes a breath, a boundary, a memory—where land and sky whisper the story of Sinukuan and the sacred feminine.

In Kapampangan folklore, Bundok Arayat is home to Apung Sinukuan, a powerful diwata associated with strength, wisdom, and justice. Often misgendered or masculinized in colonial retellings, Sinukuan’s original feminine identity is reclaimed here through soft geometry and chromatic grace. The green wave suggests her nurturing terrain, while the blue sky above becomes a canopy of protection. IJWBAA’s abstraction honors her as both mountain and myth—an enduring guardian whose story flows across generations.

This artwork transforms Bundok Arayat into a mnemonic sanctuary, where curves carry memory and color holds care. By distilling the legend into elemental form, IJWBAA invites viewers to reflect on how landscapes encode legacy. The piece resists spectacle and instead offers quiet reverence—a visual prayer for ecological memory, gender reclamation, and ancestral presence. Alamat ng Bundok Arayat becomes not just a depiction, but a movement: a chromatic archive of myth, land, and sacred continuity.

Featured On

Website:

coming soon

Social Media:

coming soon

Media:

coming soon

Publication:

IJWBAA. Decolonial Minimalism. Photobook, mm/dd/yyyy, p. #. - coming soon

Exhibitions:

coming soon