Nathaniel Alapide: Sand artist
Some people think he’s looking for gold. Others think he’s simply cleaning the beach, but what he really does is a job not many in the UAE have: he’s a sand artist.
Nathaniel Alapide has been using Dubai’s beachfronts as a giant canvas for his unique art for several years now. He was doing sand art as a hobby
while working as an aquarist for a five-star hotel in Dubai before being spotted by an agent from Jumeirah Beach Hotel who offered him a job as the iconic hotel’s resident sand artist. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
His unique artwork has drawn a lot of attention in the UAE, and he’s literally brought it to other shores, including Muscat in Oman and the beachfronts of Siargao and Boracay islands in the Philippines. On the side, Alapide is also growing a fan base for his modern art. He has worked with shops for art on interiors, exteriors and furniture and has been invited to showcase his work in several art shows, the most recent of which was the Showcase Gallery show in Dubai last month, featuring 11 UAE-based artists.
“I show my Filipino pride in the UAE through my creativity as a Filipino artist and also by sharing with other nationalities some of our best characteristics as a Filipino… being kind and compassionate and putting all that we have into doing our job, or anything really,” he says.
Ericson Reyes: Community leader
A connected Filipino is a happy Filipino, and this is why community leader Ericson Reyes spends a lot of his time orchestrating events that bring the Filipino community together.
Every day is a whirlwind of planning for Reyes, President of Angat Pinoy group and former Vice-Chairman of the FilClub association in the UAE.
“This was an unexpectedly busy year for me and my group because we wanted to reach out to every Filipino in various emirates and create projects serving the community,” he says.
Reyes spearheaded efforts to bring the first Philippine Independence Day celebration outside of Dubai, with a mall event in Umm Al Quwain in May. He’s also brought together various Filipino groups under the #Fun umbrella to create recreational events that “aim to empower every Filipino group, big or small”. The group started with a desert winter camp early this year, followed by the Wet Olympics.
“Since then, the relationship of leaders and members have become stronger and we continue not only to have fun but also to reach out to other organisations.”
The group will be featured in Gulfnews.com’s #Pinoy segment on traditional Filipino games, which will be filmed in the Gulf News premises this week. It’s a build-up to the upcoming Palarong Pinoy event in Dubai that the group is planning for next month. There’s more to come, Reyes reveals, adding that Filipino groups are already planning the next Sinulog festival in Dubai, an Asian Friendship Football Cup and more sports festivals.
Tom Alvarado: Singing painter
Dubai-based artist Tom Alvarado shows his patriotism through musical strokes, quite literally. The UAE’s only singing painter is popular with the local art community and has sold his Philippine-inspired art to some of the biggest names in the UAE and abroad. He even launched an exhibit in Dubai with no less than boxing legend Manny Pacquiao as a guest. Alvarado has come a long way from selling popsicles on the streets and peddling bags of charcoal on a rickety wooden pushcart in the Philippines. He loved the challenge of working for what he wanted and not having it handed to him on a silver platter, says the son of a plantation heir in the Philippines. “Philippine Independence Day should be celebrated by every Filipino every day through dignity in their work.”
This year, he was handpicked to create a surreal painting of the late Shaikh Zayed for a charity event in Dubai. He has recently been commissioned to create a giant mural for a school in the emirate, while talks are underway for an artwork featuring horses for another shaikh. He’s now busy working on another masterpiece for the Philippine Independence Day. The painting will be showcased in the Philippine Independence Day event at the Dubai World Trade Centre, he tells GN Focus.
