Artist Statement
Known as Death, the 13th card in most traditional tarot decks usually depicts The Grim Reaper. But in this portrait, the bust is that of the former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. He was looking up, in the manner of Baroque and Renaissance portraits of saints and martyrs but surrounded by skulls with bullet holes and torture signs. The number 1081 refers to the Presidential decree that declared the Philippines under martial law from 1972 to 1981, although the military rule would last de facto until 1986, when he and his family were ousted from power by a peaceful People’s Revolution.
About Bong Redila
Bong Redila is a Filipino-American illustrator and author based in Miami, Florida. A self-taught artist, Redila started his illustration career in the early 90’s in Guam, USA as a graphic artist and editorial cartoonist for a local newspaper. In the early 2000’s, he started writing and illustrating short stories called Meläg, the name of a fictional little town where phantasmagoric and peculiar events perpetually take place. It was then collected and published in the Philippines by Anino Comics/Adarna House and won numerous awards including the Philippine National Book Awards, Best Graphic Literature; National Children’s Book Awards, Best Reads for Kids; Komikon’s Best Graphic Novel, and was nominated for the Madrigal-Gonzalez First Book Award. He has also illustrated numerous children’s books for other authors. Meläg was published for the first time in English from Fantagraphics Underground in 2022. A follow-up, Meläg II Balikbayan was published by Anino Comics in 2023.
