Hiyas Baldemor Bagabaldo

Hiyas Baldemor Bagabaldo is a visual artist from the Philippines. From family of traditional artists and wood carvers, her works are wide variations of different discipline and platforms including but not limited to sculptures and art installations. In 2013, she started melting her traditional background with digital media when she took up Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Cinema. Since then, she has produced short films that deeply explore visual forms and elements without borders. Her experimental film "Sins Senses Saints" won in various competitions in the Philippines and was recently exhibited in Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film Fest. Her latest work, "Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala" (Carving Thy Faith), is a full-length creative documentary film about the religious woodcarvers of Paete, a small town in the Philippines, and how their centuries-old craft transforms pieces of wood into divine anatomy that billions of people respect and worship around the world. Aside from deconstructing meaning-making and iconography in socio-political context, the film is her exploration of personal environment based on experiences for living in Paete since birth.