On May 23, 2017, a clash broke out between Philippine government troops and the Islamic State-affiliated groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf, known as the Siege of Marawi.
Brother Christopher Villanueva, a Franciscan friar, along with other volunteers, participated in a relief mission to Lanao del Norte, where evacuees were seeking refuge.
Marawi is an Islamic city in Lanao del Sur, more than 1,200 kilometers southeast of Manila. Lanao del Norte is a neighboring province.
The battle was not quite over, but most of the city was already back under government control and volunteers were arriving.
“We visited the areas affected by the fighting,” said Villanueva. “While we were conducting art therapy workshops for the children, we could still hear the bombs in the distance.”
In their drawings, the children expressed what the war had brought into their lives, expressed the terror on a piece of paper and shared their hope for a more peaceful and better future.
Most of the children drew their houses in Marawi, expressing their longing for a home and a chance to build a new life in their city.
Villanueva and his team of volunteers encouraged participants in the art therapy workshops to share their war experiences to free them from their fear and despair.
During the art therapy workshops, the children also sang and danced.
The activities put smiles back on the faces of children at the evacuation site while their city lay in ruins. The government used air strikes to deal with the heavily armed Islamic separatists.
Villanueva also trained Muslim mothers at the evacuation site on how to conduct art therapy workshops for children. He hoped the therapy would continue as recovery could be a long process.
“The war has affected many areas,” he said. “Many people are traumatized, especially children.”
In addition to art therapy workshops, Villanueva and his Franciscan brothers brought relief supplies for the evacuees.
The fighting forced more than 300,000 people to flee their homes. Around 87 civilians were killed – 40 of them died of disease during the five months of fighting. Around 160 soldiers and 802 Islamic militants were killed.
The fighting ended with a victory for the Philippine government, thwarting an attempt by the terrorist militia “Islamic State” to establish a provincial territory in Marawi. But the Islamic State insurgency in the south of the Philippines is still ongoing.
“I was about to leave for a mission to Rome at the time,” Villanueva said. “But before that, I decided to volunteer to give art therapy workshops and train other volunteers on how to conduct such workshops for children.”
Before the Marawi conflict, Villanueva had also led art therapy workshops for children whose fathers were members of the Abu Sayyaf and died in the fighting in Basilan, an island province in the southern Philippines.
“We were there in 2016,” he said. “We were invited by a doctor in Basilan who works for peace. The children lived with their surviving mothers, some with relatives.”
The conflict in Basilan involved a series of clashes between government forces and, above all, the militant groups Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah.
Villanueva also shared his artistic talent by leading art therapy workshops for children who survived Typhoon Yolanda (known internationally as Typhoon Haiyan).
The super typhoon in the central Philippines in 2013 claimed over 6,300 lives and over 1,000 people are missing.
Villanueva witnessed how traumatic the experience was for the children who survived the typhoon, who were heartbroken and still scared days after the disaster.
“Every time it rained or even drizzled, the children would get scared and cry, saying it could be another destructive and deadly typhoon,” he said.
The super typhoon left the greatest damage in the country’s history; the estimated cost is nearly three billion dollars.
Due to food and water shortages following the typhoon, survivors were forced to loot shopping malls, supermarkets and fast-food chains in Tacloban, a highly urbanized city in the central Philippines that was itself devastated by the typhoon.
In addition to conducting art therapy workshops in war and disaster zones, Villanueva also participates in art exhibitions to raise funds to help disaster survivors rebuild their lives and homes.
He participated in an art exhibition in January 2022 to raise funds for the victims of Typhoon Odette (internationally known as Typhoon Rai) in Surigao, a city on the northeastern island of Mindanao that suffered massive damage in December 2021.
Also in 2022, Villanueva participated in an exhibition in Davao, a city in Mindanao, to raise funds for the construction of a nursing home for retired Franciscan friars.
Villanueva honors ordinary people from different professions for their hard work for their family.
In August 2022, he participated in the physical exhibition “Everyday Heroes” in Manila. Contributions by various artists included paintings of a tailor, a fisherman, a shoemaker, a security guard, a farmer, and other occupations of ordinary people.
Villanueva said that these people contribute to the building of society with their respective life tasks and are heroes in this sense too.
For the monk, art is not just about the appreciation of beauty, but also a medium for communicating the problems faced by members of society, especially the many who live on the margins of society.
During the pandemic, he contracted COVID-19 and had to isolate himself in the Franciscan community in Kidapawan, a town in the province of Cotabato.
Villanueva used his time in the community to utilize his talent in dealing with the depressing situation.
When Art Show Philippines, a group of Filipino artists with a platform for online exhibitions, called for submissions, he painted and submitted his entries.
He had painted, but it was the first time he had participated in an art exhibition, and it was an online show.
His artwork was sold online. He continued to participate in the group’s online art exhibitions until the government allowed physical exhibitions at the end of the pandemic. He sold more pieces at the exhibitions.
Villanueva was one of the top selling artists at Art Show Philippines for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2024.
In addition to art exhibitions, he is also commissioned to paint by art lovers. The proceeds from his commissioned works are used for his mission in war and disaster zones, especially for conducting art workshops that help children to come to terms with their traumatic experiences.
Outside of armed conflict and disaster areas, he wants to inspire people with his artwork in exhibitions. He hopes that his paintings will somehow bring relief to people who are going through difficulties in life.
Villanueva even shares his artwork on social media to invite people to appreciate beauty and renew and strengthen their faith.
“I use my God-given talent to evangelize and bring people closer to the faith,” he said. “I hope that through my artwork I can touch people’s lives and inspire them to hold on to their faith despite the challenges they face.”
