The Soft Touch of Alma Quinto

By Joanna Parungao

When one hears the word sculpture, what immediately comes to mind is solidity. The materials used to craft these works of art are usually hard like marble, wood, glass, and metal. Even terra cotta which is malleable is hardened for the piece to be finished.

Alma ‘Urduja’ Quinto, a sculptor of immense talent; diverges from the norm and uses foam as her medium. There is no harshness to it, no sharp cutting edge. Instead, there is a pliancy that lends itself well to her advocacy. Quinto has been working with the marginalized since 1993. Her soft sculptures are transformed into dolls and toys which not only imbue comfort and hope to those she works with but also gives powerful narratives a physical shape, setting the stage for a conversation to begin. Such is the power of art making.

Born in 1961, Alma has worked with CRIBS Foundation, Japanese-Filipino children, Bantay Bata, female labourers and migrant workers, differently-abled and street children, Moro women, peace journalists, orphans, prostitutes, Bicol evacuees, and many others. She has helped to give voice to their struggles and shed light to their stories of overcoming hardships and continuing to live life with courage and resilience.

In a recent interview with Rappler, Quinto was quoted saying that “I look at art not as a career but as a spiritual expression. Art should bring out what is innately beautiful, especially to those who are hopeless.”

Indeed, Quinto as an artist collaborates with her audience and in turn transforms them into artists themselves. The words that have before found no avenue of expression in the closed mouths and bound tongues of the traumatized, marginalized, hurting, and frightened now find new expression in these creations.

“The arts are non-confrontational. It is beautiful, so it is more effective than academic learning. It makes children strong to confront their trauma and build their lives again,” Quinto says to Rappler. “I encourage children to discover what is innately good in them through the arts. They want to feel loved because they have been abused.”

Art must be disseminated. It must become a part of the people’s lives. Through her work, Quinto shows how the power of art making can heal and empower, as traumas and hurts that have heretofore been unspoken are channelled into creative energies that personify narratives of strength, survival, healing, and hope.