Ang Gerilya (The Guerrilla) is an artist collective established in 2008 by art students from the University of the Philippines. Since its founding, it has produced various artworks exploring socio-political issues and celebrating Philippine history and culture.
It has made a name for itself in the Metro Manila art community for promoting politically relevant street art. In an interview with this author, the group discussed the importance of street art:
"Doing street art is our way of bringing “ART” closer to the masses. Street art is special for us because it's where the purest intention of an artist can be seen. And for every art that we do in the street, we consider it a gift to the people.
An example of their work, which was exhibited in a university museum, tackles the campaign for land reform in an estate owned by the family of the incumbent Philippine president:
"A socio-political work that also was meaningful to a community was our artwork which was exhibited in the Vargas museum titled LUPA (land). Our group had a chance to visit the Hacienda Luisita and talk to the farmers about their struggle for land reform. We were honored to transform their experiences and wishes into a meaningful artwork.
Below are other examples of the group’s artworks which reflect their goal of “making art as relevant as possible and draw influence from Philippine popular and mass culture.”
A poster made by Ang Gerilya warning the public about voting for ‘animals’ and ‘monsters’ in the senate:
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