A potent phrase in the vernacular, the exhibit’s title Walang Sinasanto embraces an entire range of allusions and references that straddle the realms of the mundane and the divine. It can denote the loss of sanctity, deeming no one or nothing sacred; it can also describe a condition where authority and hierarchy are challenged, or imply a condition of social and moral decadence. This set of meanings opens up a rich plane for discourse, which Garibay elaborates on his canvases.
Shaped by his background in art, sociology and divinity, Garibay’s exploration of this subject offers a compelling imagery that investigates questions about Philippine society and identity, such as folk Christianity, hybridity, incursions of the foreign into the ethnographic, and notions of reverence, sufferance, and devotion.