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).

bul-ol

bul-ol

Decolonial Minimalism Founding Work - Culture (Symbols)

Size: 1400 x 1400 pixels

Medium: Digital Art

Artist: IJWBAA

Year: 2025

Description:

Bul-ol by IJWBAA renders ancestral guardianship as geometric embodiment. The figure—composed of black and white shapes, striped torso, and circular head—evokes the bul-ol, a carved rice deity from the Cordillera highlands, traditionally placed in granaries to protect harvests and ensure abundance. Here, IJWBAA reframes the bul-ol not as ethnographic sculpture, but as mnemonic infrastructure: a visual chant of presence, symmetry, and sacred labor.

The vertical bars descending from the circle suggest rootedness—like a tree, a spine, or a lineage. This is not just ornamentation; it is cosmology. The green background evokes growth and ecological intimacy, while the yellow form pulses with solar energy and sacred continuity. IJWBAA resists literal replication and instead channels the emotional logic of the lingling-o: how form becomes philosophy, how adornment becomes archive.

This artwork honors the bul-ol as a vessel of continuity. By abstracting its form into minimalist geometry, IJWBAA invites viewers to see guardianship not as static tradition, but as living rhythm. Bul-ol becomes a visual prayer for ecological intimacy, ancestral protection, and the sacredness of everyday labor. It is not just a design—it is a declaration of rooted care.

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