During the 2024 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards (NJLA) held last May 7 at the Samsung Hall, SM Aura Premier in Taguig City, we paused and gave a moment of reflection to the writers, journalists, lyricists, and film directors who died in 2023.
Edgar ‘Egai’ Talusan Fernandez (January 20, 1955- February 27, 2024)
He was a social-realist painter known for portraying the Philippines as a multi-ethnic country embroiled in festering socio-political and economic conflicts. As a pillar of the social realism movement in the country, he lived his art and became a founding member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines and co-founder of the art collective, Kaisahan
He was a recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ 13 Artists Award in1990 and was awarded the Parangal Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan from the City of Manila in 2006.
On June 18, 1990, the revived Philippines Graphic, under the aegis of the late Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua and edited by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin came outwith its first issue. On its cover is Egai Talusan Fernandez’s painting Kahapon, Ngayon at Pangarap.
The cover, as described by its editors, “illustrates the past and present threats to national sovereignty, and the people’s hopes for tomorrow. Kahapon, Ngayon, at Pangarap epitomizes the hopes for the magazine: We are born in a time of turmoil, but the future gives us no cause for despair.”
Today, the Philippines Graphic bequeaths to his widow, Nena Gajudo Fernandez a framed poster of the painting as it was featured on the Philippines Graphic cover June 18, 1990 issue.
