Cultural critic Marian Roces calls out Beauty Gonzalez due to this reason.
Filipino curator, author, and founder and president of TAO, Inc., Marian Pastor Roces called out Beauty Gonzales because of her jewelry.
The president of TAO, Inc. is Marian Pastor Roces. She is also a curator and author. She curated three consecutive Philippine Pavilions for World Expos 2006, 2008, and 2010. She founded and curated UP Manila’s Museum of a History of Ideas, the Yuchengco Museum, Museo Marino, the Cultural Center’s Museo ng Kalinangang Katutubo, and MCAD.
And recently, one thing has caught her attention and it is the jewelry piece actress Beauty Gonzales has worn during the GMA Gala 2023.
In the big event, Gonzales wore pieces of gold that are centuries old from “excavated eye and mouth covers from distant places like Butuan and Surigao”. This activity way back is done by ethnic people to the dead to protect them from evil spirits that might conquer their dead bodies.
These pieces, for the actress, accordingly reflect her deep interest in Philippine antiques and contemporary. She even said in an interview, “I’m proud to be Pinoy so I’ve been collecting this for years.”
Spotting these pieces, the cultural critic called her out. The independent curator stressed that those were “grave robber stuff”. As someone who is an expert in matters like this, Pastor said that if these pieces were excavated in a legal way, National Museum or the Bangko Sentral should possess these.
“Or: if the pieces were excavated decades ago and therefore privately owned by sensible collectors before current restrictions, the question still remains: why death masks as necklace?” she added.
She sees this display as “exhibiting impunity and crassness” instead of being a homage. She stressed in her Facebook post that “wearing archaeological gold death pieces, flaunting excess, is odious” and that ignorance with arrogance is never fashionable.
The Kapuso actress has not reacted to this yet as of this posting.
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