World Volcanos

Art event 2
Location: San Diego Natural History Museum
Balboa Park, second floor
Date: February 23, 2008

After photographing some of the native plants around the Balboa Park area. We went to see some of the artworks on display inside the San Diego Natural Museum. They were having something else going that day called A Day in Pompeii, and it was pretty crowded. When we got to the second floor I can't help but notice some of the pictures on the wall. At first I noticed a colorful photograph by an artists name Stephen and Donna. As I got closer I realized that the houses on the picture were almost covered with the earth. It turned out that what I was looking at was an image of the aftermath of Mt. Unzen volcanic eruption. Then I realized that everything on this wall is about volcanic eruptions.

My husband and I kept on walking, then I came to a stop to look at an overwhelming grayish tone image. There it was one of the largest volcanic eruption in recent history the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines by Hoa Qui photography. Memories started filling my head. I left the Philippines as a young child in 1990, so I was not there to witness this natural disaster. However, I had many relatives who had witnessed the massiveness of this volcanic eruption. I remember their stories through the many phone calls about lahars (mud flows) flowing in our province, asses everywhere, darkness that lasted for days, and the lack of clean water.

When I visited our province back in the late 90s, I long for the green trees and grassy field that I saw playing in the street as a kid. Ridding in a yellow van my, older brother brought to pick us up from the airport, I could not quite recognized the places I was seeing looking out the window. There was an area called Bacaloor, where none of the houses were visible except for the roof top. All were buried underground by the lahar that had flowed in the village.

As we stopped in front of our old house, I could see the steps in front of our house where my I used to watch my dad crack the crabs to separate the meat from the shells were almost all buried with the dried out lahar. The camiato trees that we used to climbed up to get the fruits were also no longer there. However my sadness soon disappeared as I saw the many people in the street waving hi and smiling at us. They have heard of our arrival, and many got out of their houses to welcome us. Last time they had seen us we were so small, they were so glad to see us all grown up. Ha memories...next time we visit the Philippines I want to bring my daughter.

The images on this show were sure powerful. Mother nature is something you can't stop. It reminds you that not everything is within your control.