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).

Dagat at Kinagawian

Dagat at Kinagawian

Decolonial Minimalism Founding Work - Culture (Wika)

Size: 1400 x 1400 pixels

Medium: Digital Art

Artist: IJWBAA

Year: 2025

Description:

Dagat at Kinagawian by IJWBAA transforms a constellation of rare Filipino words into a chromatic archive of memory. Terms like dakong, alila, awon, kalasag, balintataw, paraluman, lantaka, patong, and balantagi ripple across a green field, evoking the sea (dagat) as a vast reservoir of language. Each word is a wave—archaic, poetic, or forgotten—surfacing again as part of collective kinagawian (custom). The composition resists literal imagery, instead offering a textual shoreline where language itself becomes the landscape.

These words, once common in oral traditions and everyday speech, now shimmer as fragments of cultural inheritance. IJWBAA’s abstraction reframes them not as relics but as living currents, flowing between generations. The green background suggests both land and continuity, while the white text glows like shells scattered along the shore. In this way, the artwork becomes a mnemonic panel: a reminder that language, like the sea, carries both abundance and loss, and that kinagawian is preserved through remembrance.

By presenting these terms in minimalist form, the piece invites viewers to reflect on the sacredness of naming and the fragility of memory. Dagat at Kinagawian is not just a list of words—it is a visual prayer for linguistic reclamation. IJWBAA restores these terms to resonance, positioning them as part of a living archive of Filipino identity. The artwork becomes a sanctuary where language, culture, and sea converge, reminding us that tradition is not static but tidal—always returning, always alive.

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

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