Cheap Living, Cheap Everything: Insights on the Ecomedia Wall Project

 For the longest time, I have always considered my life to be very sheltered. This comes in hand with the abject sense of seclusion I have always felt growing up in a place located at the southern, residential edges of Cebu City. Living in the outskirts feels like an oxymoron—we are a part, yet apart from the metropolis. Thus, upon deep contemplation on what I could contribute to the Ecomedia Wall project, I decided to create a series of handmade illustrations to (hopefully) depict this rustic feeling of being, but not quite, left behind. 

Living in an area that borders Talisay City, a city whose economy is largely dependent on microbusinesses and commercial establishments situated among residential neighborhoods, the way of life of barangays within the south of Cebu City are noticeably slower and less hectic than their counterparts in the central and northern districts.

A photo I took a few months ago of the Natalio B. Bacalso Avenue that runs straight through Pardo and Talisay City. Modern development is slow in the South. 

Through pen drawings on a notepad aptly bordered by a printed design of a fish swimming nearby a lighthouse (a picturesque image that made me remember the threats the oceans are facing—truly a notepad of worthwhile purchase), I hoped to depict how even the lifestyles of those in the fringes succumb to systemic capitalism, contributing to the overall carbon footprint of the city I live in.

My illustrations mainly focused on my life experiences of myself, my family, and my peers. To begin, the first two contributions of Cheap Nature and Cheap Money drew on my experiences as someone who went to elementary school and high school in the local Dominican-run, Catholic institution. I wanted to show how certain rules and practices that we were expected to adhere to inevitably played a part in the cycle of capitalism by accustoming us to the life of “cheap.” Cheap Nature depicts how most of our land has been sequestered for the gains of private entities, and Cheap Money shows us how we’ve been molded to propagate and sustain the system of capitalism.

My drawing for Cheap Money. I wanted to depict a doodle of a small-time start-up business common among students: munchkins.

This type of environment naturally attempts to warm us up to a life of exploited labor—thus, Cheap Work and Cheap Care come into play. Drawing from my experience of living with a mother who taught in the local public school, I attempted to sketch the struggles our underpaid and unfairly compensated teachers face on a daily basis.  

From there we begin to understand that cultural practices and societal norms play a huge part in maintaining and fortifying our existing carbon footprint. My jeepney illustration for Cheap Energy perfectly encompasses this refusal to move away from the cheap lifestyle we have always been accustomed to. Although many factors encourage this denial of change, the point remains that this encourages the ever-enduring system of capitalism. Even the introduction of newer, (so-called) greener, “organic” practices like consuming vegan food has been easily integrated and accepted because it fits the conditions of cheapness that capitalism requires to generate maximum return on investment.

Thus, the “cheap everything” capitalistic system is felt, even in aspects of our lives we’ve never really given much thought of. I can only hope that, through this Ecomedia Wall project, awareness can be spread about the system of cheapness we have been blindly, unwillingly, and unfairly thrust into.