Manila (AsiaNews / CBCP) - A Filipino nun with a passion for art, as well as the vocation to consecrated life, decided to exhibit her work and to put them on sale to raise funds to finance evangelization.
The nun is taking part in an exhibition in Binondo, a Manila district, and with the money from the sale of her paintings will support her congregation’s foreign missions and the studies of young women who want to dedicate their lives to God. In particular, Sister Venus Marie S. Pegar has painted three of the 80 works on display from 14 March until mid-April at the Manila International Peace Center.
The proceeds from the possible sale of the paintings (one of the works pictured in photo) "will go to our missions for the poor in Myanmar," says Sister Pegar, and "women who want to become nuns, but do not have sufficient resources to be able to study" .
The nun uses the technique of oil on canvas. The first bears the title “Behind Her Complexity”; the second, “Behind Her Thoughts”; the third, “Her Color.” The trilogy depicts the figure of a woman, who the religious and the author describes as having "ripened over time." "The little girl - she adds - has now become a woman," dressed in yellow and "ready to face new challenges."
Behind the thoughts, anxieties and concerns of women, explains Sister Venus Marie S. Pegar, there is the pursuit of peace and a safe anchorage, which is in God. "Her salvation lies in God - she said – so she fears nothing". The paintings can be purchased at varying prices, depending on the work, between 5 and 10 thousand pesos (a little over $ 220).
Born in Leyte, Pegar, now 38, started painting at the age of eight. She hailed from a family of artists. Her father was one, and she has two brothers who are professional artists. Beside teaching, and with the approval of her superiors, the religious continued to cultivate her passion for painting.
While the Sisters of St. Francis Xavier, her congregation, supports her interest in art, her family encourages her in its own way: the materials she uses are provided by her brother.
Sister Pegar held the position of director of vocations and deals with the formation of postulants. She also cares for 20 guests at a Catholic center for the elderly and abandoned people in Laguna, Luzon island.