Organized by the grassroots art collective SISID, the three-day festival is a testament to their vision and mission of creating spaces for art to flourish. Located in Chapterhouse Creative Hub in Quezon City, Salu-Salo 2: Prose and Poetry Showcase on Oct. 25 featured poets and authors who offer visitors a close-up look at the work of budding creative talents!
Able to form a safe place for art and artists to grow, SISID pushed forward the drive to understand and express our communities and our unique lives and experiences—through script, poetry, and prose readings, workshops, film screenings, craft lectures, panel discussions, and performances.
Tucked inside a residential village, Chapterhouse Creative Hub transformed into a comfortable and immersive gathering spot for young writers and performers to share their work before a close-knit and eager audience—feeling less like a formal events hub and more like a gathering place for close friends.
A cozy festival
The audience was mainly composed of around 50 young adults, many of whom were already working, but some attendees were students. Each performance was met with their loud, enthusiastic applause, enhancing the open and supportive ambience.
The overall atmosphere of the venue perfectly fit the established energy of the exhibit, creating an intimate air that allowed people to connect with their present and with the exhibitors. Chapterhouse Creative Hub offered a bar and grill where visitors could order refreshments and food while enjoying light music and literary performances by invited authors. On the second floor was a small shop selling a variety of products like clothes, trinkets, and stickers. And plastered across the walls were various artworks and posters, reminding onlookers of pressing contemporary issues—a quiet reminder of moral standings.
Emerging young talents
Salu-Salo 2 invited a diverse roster of poets and writers, each bringing their own narratives to the spotlight—such as Rayshelle Lozada, Gelo de Guzman, Denoelle C. Cerezo, Mark Dimaisip, and Sejo Esguerra, whose works ranged from community identity to social commentaries. Such as Lozada’s prose about Escolta’s historical streets and Esguerra’s poem, combining innocence, violence, and divinity with hopeful undertones.
Aries C. Ferrer, a recent film graduate, shared his piece on the passing of his father and how it influenced his art and writing as a whole, changing and altering his perspective on life. Though simple, Ferrer imbued his work with an unshakeable heartache, showing the impact of a loved one’s death on oneself.
Meanwhile, Eduard Escuadra, a filmmaker and former Iskolar ng Bayan, presented his story highlighting the corruption infesting our society, manifesting in the form of flooding. Escuadra presents it with a solemn lens, weighing in on the suffering of those affected by injustice and neglect from the government.
Terrence Pineda compared his life experiences to the street food Betamax. His usage of wordplay and clever metaphors cemented his work as one of the memorable parts of the event. His writing and performance allowed audiences a refreshing and inherently Filipino-like perspective on how we perceive our lives.
Leandro Reyes, a spoken word poet and known particularly as “The Basyang Kid,” captivated viewers with his legacy of storytelling and undeniable command of language. From the nationalistic love for our mother tongue to the odd experience of adulthood, Reyes delivered his pieces with heavy theatrical flair, enhancing their impact through deliberate silence, rising and sinking tones, and bodily movements, bringing his work to life through performance
Salu-Salo 2: Prose and Poetry Showcase not only offered a platform for young talents to share their work, but also showed the quality and range of our local literary scene. SISID’s vision-mission of fostering communities where artists can gather, create, and grow independently points toward a future where art is more community-driven and accessible to all!
