Chloe Caday’s, Flowers of the Divine, Gumamela, is part of her latest series, Diwata’s Song. This work is based on the story of two lovers; Gumeng (man) and Mula (diwata). A story of a fate-forbidden love, the ground beneath their bodies opened up, absorbing them slowly deep into the earth. Here, a strange plant sprung up bearing an alluring red flower, resembling not of blood or death but of pure love. With the shape of a trumpet, the flower played a soft melody that soothed and eased the hearts of those that came across the beautiful Gumamela. 

Chloe says of her work: “The Flowers of the Divine paintings are based on the Filipino folk stories of forbidden lovers who continued to pursue their love until death. A story of passion, resilience, and purity, the flowers have become a prominent symbol of their love rebirthed back into the earth that continued to blossom time after time. Long before the Spanish colonisation in the Philippines, and the widespread of Western/Catholic ideas, it was commonly believed that the spirit of the departed would be reborn back into the earth – such as a flower, butterfly, moth, or a dragonfly. This belief continues to remain a sacred part of Filipino culture surrounding the afterlife, and its stories such as these hold the power to reconnect the modern world with history retold by not the colonists, but by our ancestors and the people of the land.”

Tracing back to pre-colonial Philippines, ‘Diwata’s Song’ re-tells passed down stories and memories, in honour of the artist’s motherland that is deeply rooted in folklore and mythology. Within this exhibition, Chloe Caday reimagines landscapes with mythological motifs influenced by Filipino folklore, focusing particularly on the ‘Diwatas’ – spiritual beings that guard and nurture the land. As a result, the paintings are a culmination of stories about these goddesses of the moon, stars, waters, and sunrise, forbidden loves, midnight mystique, and the peculiar allure of flowers in bloom.”