Sophia
Riel Hilario & Joel Alonday
2003

The sculpture is a collaboration between two artists who sought to explore Gnostic ideas as a counterpoint to traditional Christian Catholicism that prevailed upon the ethos of Philippine society. Sophia is a Gnostic goddess, often thought of as the female counterpart of the male God Jehovah. Hilario and Alonday portray her as a woman Christ who also bears the marks of the same Passion as Jesus. To signify the ancientness of the idea, the sculptors chose to render the work to look like an antique, replete with the patinas of age and the polish of many hands passing over the surface of the object. A strange-looking red bird, perched on her shoulder, is a symbol of the soul (in deference to the Egyptian tradition of showing the soul as a bird, Ka). The work bears semblance to the antique santos in the hope of being passed off as one, and thereby being included in the hagiography of orthodoxy under the guise of a revered object.

Medium
Polychrome, carved wood and epoxy resin

Dimensions
124 x 38 x 61 cm (49 x 15 x 24'')