SILYA: More than a Convenience

A chair can be simple, like a dining chair, or comfortable, like a sofa. It may have arms like an armchair, or lack a backrest, like a stool or bench. The colonial Philippine bahay na bato featured a variety of chairs that reflected both function and design suited to its tropical environment. In addition to the standard chairs used in the dining room, kitchen, study, and bedroom-collectively known as silla (Spanish) or silya (a pan-Philippine term)—there were couches and armchairs in the sala (living room). These were not upholstered due to the tropical weather and humidity but instead featured rattan caning or solihiya.

The sala also often had a high chair placed beside a window, providing a vantage point to view street scenes during fiestas, processions, and parades. Chairs in the antesala (anteroom) for guests were inspired by the elegant Thonet bentwood birch chairs imported from Austria.
A bench, or kapiya, was commonly found in the kitchen or the zaguan (the ground floor of the bahay na bato). Unique to the Philippines was the gallinera, a special bench with a built-in chicken cage underneath.

Although the Philippines had no monarchy-and therefore no regal thrones—it had the silla episcopal and the silla ceremonial. The upholstered silla episcopal was used in high liturgies and was placed under a canopy in cathedrals, reserved exclusively for bishops. The silla ceremonial was designated for non-liturgical functions and used by civil officials and other dignitaries.

Inspired by the works of Willie Garcia and Roxanne Cuacoy-who transform single-use plastics into useful and expressive products— Lambana: Angono Women Artists Collective rose to the challenge of breathing new life into old, forgotten chairs. They reimagined these pieces into meaningful works of art, giving them renewed purpose.

Lambana women draws on the symbolic theme of a SILYA to express hope as part of their participation in AD SPEM PER ARTEM (Hope through Art), the inaugural exhibit of LRH-SACA’s Pedro Calungsod Art Space. This theme resonates deeply with the Jubilee Year 2025’s focus: Peregrinantes in Spem (Pilgrims of Hope).

Artists:
Cecille Artillaga
Grets Balajadia
Sabina Joy Vocalan Cruz
Sarah Geneblazo.
Rosalie Vitor Gonzales
Haidee Juban
Hazel Miranda
Keiye Miranda
Inang Elvira Santos
Lucila Gragera Zara

Exhibit will be on view until April 20, 2025 at the Pedro Calungsod Art Space of LRH-SACA. Open to the public.