IMCS Asia Pacific coordination got the opportunity to participate such effort of the French artist Nicolas Ciarlone. During a one week in June 2016 he had painted several abstract murals in different places of San Roque, an urban poor area of Metro Manila, the Philippines. This project aimed to support the inhabitants of the San Roque in their struggle against the scheduled demolition of their neighbourhood, due to a private and governmental project which aims to turn the place in a new business and commuting centre.
San Roque is one of numerous urban poor areas located in Quezon City, a part of Metro Manila. The urban poor organization KADAMAY in San Roque has been organizing community members so that they may collectively combat poverty by fighting for jobs with living wages and humane conditions, which they believe is the way to keep poor people away from using/selling drugs. Like most of the urban poor areas of Manila, San Roque has Hundreds of poor Filipino families are living there, trying to make a living in very precarious living conditions. Migrants from all over the Philippines are piling in cubocubo, small houses made of everything, mirroring the patchwork of languages, culinary and religious habits of the San Roque inhabitants. The goal of the art project conducted by Nicolas Ciarlone was to use painting as a political and an educational tool, in order to support the struggle for the inhabitants of San Roque in their legitimate fight for a livelihood.
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