Art exhibit protests road widening

Images containing a woodcut print of a bird were found posted at the exposed limestone in the area being developed along the closed area between the CAFA Building and the Church of Saints Arnold and Joseph. These images were posted by Radel Paredes, a Fine Arts faculty member of the College of Architecture and Fine Arts. The prints that hang on the carved out part of the hill were hand-pressed and etched from woodcuts of birds he carved.

According to Paredes, it was “a kind of protest of the road widening”. He directs the attention of the viewers to the “birds of USC” aside from the trees of the Talamban Campus which were the symbol of last week’s ‪#‎savetheusctrees‬ hype.
It is part of what he plans to be a “series of artistic expressions”. He found that it was ironic that there were signs in the campus that advocate “saving the birds in USC” and yet trees, home to the birds, were being cut down. Paredes further adds that “since the birds cannot speak out” he placed the illustrations of “angry birds” in the exposed limestone wall, which served as a white wall of a gallery. When asked about the ongoing process of talks of alternative plans and dialogue, Paredes simply said his work was “not a clear sign of opposition, an outdoor installation art, just an artwork about the birds”. He further adds that in the end, it really depends on the viewers of the artwork what to think of it in the context of what was occurring in the university.