This week, we talk with writer and thespian Ron Capinding about his identity as a creative and how it helped his work flourish during quarantine. Ron has collaborated with the BGC Arts Center’s You Art Not Alone quarantine art campaign and was featured in the first episode of Mind S-Cool TV.
How has your perspective of creativity shifted from experiencing 2020?
“[It] never really changed. Creativity is going beyond limitation. Transcending limitation. And there was suddenly an automatic limitation now that I needed to transcend, without me creating it myself or seeking it myself. So my perspective with creating has just been sustained. My experience in 2020, I just carried through with my old perspective on creativity that I have had since the 1990s, the early 2000s. And that is to celebrate the capacity of art, or theatre, or writing to transcend limitations. Hindi mo siya makukulong. ‘Yung creativity. So ngayon na may pagkakulong, walang problema. ‘Yan ang hinahanap natin. Halika, bring it. ‘Yan ang naging attitude.”
What are the creative habits that you gained from last year, that you would like to continue with?
“For my other art forms, I've learned to proceed with any dream, with collaboration. Because this pandemic has made it suddenly possible to invite somebody from Germany, Japan. Now I’m doing a play with an actor that resides in Baguio, in La Union, in Lucban, Quezon. Now I’m able to bring in a celebrity in the play I’m doing. That is what I also acquire. This audacity to offer somebody who knows a collaborative project. That is also something I gained now. Because suddenly everyone is vulnerable, and everyone is so new to this, and everyone is just excited to try out new things.
“I'm happy that I acquired the habit of writing again; not that it left me. There's just no opportunity in the past. This pandemic allowed me to write, a lot. I always believed in writing poetry. For me, writing [is] the most luxurious creative habit. Walang daya diyan. You really have to spend time for it. There is no shortcut. You need silence. You need comfort. And you need time to think. Since I afforded all those, since we are at home, writing also became convenient and accessible. So I'm happy that I’m able to write now, from what happened last year.”
Fill in this statement, “I create because _______“
“I create because that’s how I live. I live creatively. That’s just how I breathe, that’s how I move. It's always creative. I never needed a reason to create. It is my natural essence. It is my natural nature to create. So I live creatively. Even if I’m not creating, I always look for “what else?” Always look for what's outside the box. Always look for what is not seen. I always look for the other way. I always look for alternatives. I always look for options. Always look for possibilities. I live creatively.”
What is the best thing about being a partner of a science and art organization?
“The witnessing. The realization, the witnessing, and the proving of the fact that science and art can go together. And that they are not two opposite poles that are difficult to reconcile or reunite. Science will always help art to be more glorious and at the same time, art helps science. To boost science and to make it more inquisitive in search of beautiful things. For truth. This particular organization actually champions that. That science and art go together. In fact, they complement each other, they promote each other and they celebrate and nourish each other. They have to be together as regularly as possible for them to flourish and rise. That's the best thing about this organization, that champions both science and art. And to partner with such an organization, it is a privilege and my pleasure, and an honor. Thank you.”
Watch this multimedia art, "Mabuhay Lahat", poetry by Ron Capinding, music by Sage Ilagan, and visuals by Noriko Kinouchi. This Collaborative Quarantine Art project was made possible by the Bonifacio Art Foundation, Inc. with the support of The Japan Foundation, Manila.
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