Homeless, self-taught artist in Katipunan draws artworks to survive

• Netizen shared the situation of one artist selling her artworks in the streets of Katipunan.
• According to the artist, they have not been eating for one week and she’s asking for help to feed her nieces. 

A netizen shared the situation of an artist she encountered in the streets of Katipunan. She introduced Jhalanie, a homeless, self-taught artist selling her artworks for ₱300-₱500.

This is Ate Jhalanie. She is a homeless, self-taught artist, and she sells her pieces for about 300-500 Php. I’m not going to try to make poverty porn out of this, but nonetheless, I hope you guys can help her by buying her paintings and sketches! (I will be adding more)

In a handwritten message, the artist introduced herself. “Ako po si Jhalanie Lava Matuan at isa pong homeless artist sa Makati. Humihingi po ako ng tulong para po mabentahan ang aking artworks. Hindi po ako namamalimos bagkus tulungan niyo po akong bentahan ang aking mga paintings. Isang linggo na po kami di kumakain at naaawa na po ako sa lima kong pamangkin sa saborang sakit ng kanilang sikmura. Kaibigan tulungan po naman ninyo ako para na ninyong awa…”

In a post by ABS-CBN News three years ago, it was found out that Jhalanie used to dig through the garbage of other people until she found pencils and coloring materials, and that’s when she started to draw.

An art exhibit was held in A Space Manila gallery in Makati on August 28, 2015. But in a tweet by Leandro Altamirano, Jhalanie didn’t receive much money as the promoter took almost everything.

Hi! I think this is the same artist that was given a chance to exhibit her work … unfortunately last I heard, she didn’t get enough for what it was worth since her promoter took almost everything.

The tweet now has more than 8,000 retweets and 16,000 likes.