Rachel Anne Lacaba

Creative catharsis 

Rachel Anne Lacaba’s advocacies rendered in canvas 

By HANNAH JO UY 

November 19, 2018 / C-3 

What started as a form of therapy, to help her heal from the loss of her mother, turned into a relentless pursuit of a lifelong craft

In an empty canvas, Rachel Anne Lacaba finds solace. Through colors and figures she makes sense of the cruelty and chaos of the world, and painting, for the 28- year-old self-taught artist, is the oxy­gen that supports her very existence.

 

A graduate of Information Tech­nology, the now full-time artist admits that her inkling to create began at a young age. “I started drawing when I was about five, mostly cartoon charac­ters” she recalled.

 

“I remember when I was young, I also liked drawing weird creatures and monsters that I thought were cute, so I wouldn’t be scared.”

 

During her freshman year in college, Lacaba slowly tested the waters with regards to a potential artistic career.

 

However, her full pivot into paint­ing only came when tragedy struck on Dec. 28, 2008. “When my mom died, I was extremely depressed,” she revealed. “I was so sad that she was gone, I looked for a way to ex­press how I felt” 

The overwhelming sense of grief drove her to paint as a way to cope with her emotions and the loss of her beloved mother. 

“It was then I started to paint ev­ery day, and I never stopped since then. It was then I learned the value of time in the life of people.” 

As she turned to painting to ex­press herself, Lacaba said that she became hypersensitive, becoming acutely aware of the things happen­ing all around her. 

“I became sensitive in a way that I started to understand what was hap­pening in my surroundings,” she said. “Then, I started to apply it to my art.” 

What started as a form of therapy, to help her heal from the loss of her mother, turned into a relentless pur­suit of a lifelong craft.Despite not having easy access to a formal fine art education, Lacaba immersed her­self in anything and everything that she could get her hands on and, with strong self-discipline, navigated her way through learning techniques. Ini­tially starting with watercolor, Lacaba found herself to drawn to acrylic. 

“I also would also seek out help from my artist friends,” she said. 

“I ask them for advice on how to improve my work. I also attend the mentoring session of Manny Garibay and Renato Habulan, and whatever they taught me, I do my best to apply in my pieces.” 

Lacaba said that she considered Rodel Tapaya, Elmer Borlongan, Manny Garibay, Renato Habulan, Alfred Esquillo, and Jojit Solano as her biggest inspirations, and among those that had most signifi­cant influence on her ideas and un­derstanding of art. 

Sharing her creative process, Lacaba said she begins each piece with a sketch. 

“The first thing I do is fix the com­position, and get most of the details of the subject down,” she said, adding that she would sometimes look at old magazines and images as references. 

“Then I lie down, close my eyes and do absolutely nothing. In a few minutes, or hours, I will have the en­tire painting visualized in my mind, every detail, exactly as it will look when it’s finished.” 

From that, Lacaba mentally paints the photo, before moving on to execute the piece and create physical product of her active imagination. 

“My work is usually about social issues,” she shared, “not only in our own country, but also from all over the world.” Indeed, in her art, Lacaba is unafraid to be vulnerable in tack­ling her inner demons, as well as the real-life horrors in society today. 

The scope of her work includes themes discussing depression and anxiety. 

“How it affects the mind of those afflicted, as well as the people around them,” she said, stressing that she approaches the issue with grave seriousness. “This isn’t a joke, and they aren’t acting,” she said, in an earnest plea to shine the spotlight on the issue. “This is something that can cause deaths among people, just like any other sickness.” 

Lacaba’s work, a juxtaposition of bold colors and forbidding ele­ments, also touches on the environ­ment, another advocacy close to the artist’s heart. 

“The works look at how the envi­ronment is getting destroyed because of the negligence of mankind, and its consequences for us, as people, as well as animals within the ecosys­tem,” she said, asking why, so often, humans act more like animals, than animals themselves. 

The empathy in Lacaba’s work is especially palpable, in relation to the visual narratives on war, and what she described as the never-ending killing and disregard for human life. Through her work, Lacaba explores the after-effects of these among the youth, also dialing in on what she thinks the re­maining family of the soldiers that bravely fought for freedom, must feel in coping with the loss of loved ones. 

With every piece, Lacaba said, the goal is simple: to communicate. And this is the force that continues to drive the artist to create, to share her story, and the stories of the people around her that have to be heard.