Mariposa Hindi Posas is a fund-raising exhibit that opened February 5, 2023, at KRi8 Gallery and Art Space at the Lola Umá y Cantina in Jaro, Iloilo City, in celebration of Women’s Month.

The exhibit is a celebration of the visual artistry and literary work of political detainees led by Adora Faye de Vera, together with other women artists and activists who continue to fight to free society from oppression.

The work shows the imagery from the eyes of female persons deprived of liberty and the circumstances that led to their incarceration as activists and community leaders. It narrates the lives of Lenilyn Jaynos, Victoria Tumabiao, Maricel Restituta, Nena Fernando, and Adora Faye de Vera.

The opening program was a show of solidarity and collective demand with music, poetry readings, and messages. KRi8 Gallery described the event in the words of Maricel P. Montero: “Not-your-usual art, brave poetry, songs of freedom, liberating thoughts—just some of the reasons why the Ilonggo world remains a maverick country within this country of amnesiacs. What a way to mark International Women’s Month!”

Spotlight on Adora

Adora Faye de Vera is a prolific writer, visual artist, women’s rights activist, and Martial Law survivor. Her poetry and life are part of the Women’s Studies course at the University of the Philippines. She was an active member of Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA) during the Martial Law years, and she served as secretary general of Gabriela.

She was arrested twice under the regime of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. Her first arrest was in 1976, wherein she was brought to an unknown location and raped by several military personnel, including high-ranking officials, multiple times to extract information from her, a method popularly known as torture. Although she was able to escape from the hands of state forces, she was arrested again in 1983. Both of her arrests were not supported by any charges.

In 1986, following the popular EDSA People Power uprising, Adora was released, and she became one of the complainants in a landmark lawsuit filed against the Marcos family while they were in exile in the United States. The case reached the US Supreme Court with an order favoring the victims of martial law.

Upon the Marcoses’ assumption of power with the victory of Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos, Jr., in the May 2022 Presidential Elections, Adora found herself re-arrested. On August 24, de Veyra was taken by civilian armed personnel in an unmarked van.

Now 66 years old, the women’s rights and freedom fighter is facing trumped-up charges of murder, frustrated murder, piracy, rebellion, and highway robbery. She is now detained in the Iloilo District Jail while her family is based in Manila.

Butterflies fly free

Mariposa Hindi Posas (Butterfly and not Handcuffs) conveys the message that human beings are free creatures with a colorful life, and this is exemplified by the revolutionary life of Adora Faye de Vera, a life she dedicated to serving the people with aspirations to transform society to become better or to liberate from oppression and injustice.

The works of female artists in Mariposa Hindi Posas display the triumphant spirit and soul of women political prisoners.

The exhibit also features the works of Madhu, Rei Sollesta, Shiela Molato, Pam Reyes, Faith Rubinos, Micah Maramag, and Roselle Perez.