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Jeepney: ASKal (Auto Synchronous Kalesa)
Askal is a modern Filipino word for a street dog (a contraction of the words asong kalye) or mongrel. The Philippine Jeepney is such a thing. It is the hybrid of an American body (the American war-time jeep), a Japanese heart (the engine), the Spanish soul (all the religious imagery inside), but it is basically a Filipino dream.
Sarimanok and Manara
Firebird (right photo) is Toym’s own interpretation of the Sarimanok, which is based on the Indonesian Garuda, derived from an African and Indian mythology which, in turn, was based on the Egyptian bird, the Bennu which dies at sunset and is reborn at sunrise.
Toym's father, Adulmari Asia Imao, was famous for his contemporary interpretations of the Sarimanok motif. Toym felt that, after his father passed away, he did not want the contemporary representation of the Sarimanok motif to die with him.
For Toym, the Sarimanok is a messenger.
Before the launch of the series, Toym went to Marawi city, Lanao, to source materials for his new interactive installation at the Ayala Museum.
Called Manara (left photo), it was to become the de facto monument to Marawi as parts of the city were razed to the ground by a siege a month later.
Marawi is the cultural capital of Muslim Mindanao. It is supposed that the birth place of the Sarimanok is in the Lake Lanao area.
So it seemed fitting for Toym to create the Firebird as the first in his Sarimanok series. It somehow is a perfect metaphor for to Marawi.