Bob Mendoza Images
presents
Nine Days of Peñafrancia
(Photo Exhibit)
September 7-16, 2007
Avenue Square, Magsaysay Ave., Naga City, Philippines
September is the month of Peñafrancia festivities, a regional fiesta drawing in countless devotees from all the Bikol region as well as pilgrims from all over the country, to Our Lady of Peñafrancia, fondly called Ina.
This September sees also a photo exhibit at the Avenue Square, Magsaysay, Naga City. The exhibit marks many firsts: it is the first-ever one-man photo exhibit to be held in the Bikol Region and the first-ever single-event photo exhibit on Our Lady of Penafrancia.
The exhibit is called 9 Days of Penafrancia: Bob Mendoza Images, a product of a 10-year coverage of Penafrancia festivities by Dr. Bob Mendoza. A practicing eye surgeon in Naga City, Dr. Bob, as he is fondly called, is a native of Pasay City. He moved to Naga City in 1997 and has since then become a devotee of Our Lady. Uniquely, the doctor expresses this devotion through photography. He was, in fact, the chief photographer of the coffee-table book Ina and the Bikol People published in 2002.
Dr. Bob Mendoza has selected the top 50 photos for the exhibit in a range that captures the dimensions of faith and arts: from the profane to the sacred, from the human and the divine, from the festive to the solemn. Images abound in the event, including those around the novena to Ina, the Traslacion, when the Virgin is carried to the old cathedral; and the Sakay, when She is brought back to her Shrine by the river..
This photo exhibit is sponsored by Canon Philippines , Avenue Square, and organized by Ina nin Bikol Foundation.
The activity is also a fundraiser. All photos to be exhibited are for sale, with proceeds going to a fund to be used for the poverty alleviation programs of Ina nin Bikol Foundation, the foundation Dr. Bob has been supporting since 2000.
The exhibit formally opened on September 7, 2007 and will run until September 16, 2007.
