This week, a Filipino design artist based in London, in collaboration with British jewelry designer Francis Wadsworth Jones, launched the latest edition of the jewelry collection of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda Marcos.
Imelda R. Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines for 21 years (Getty Images)
And journalist Oliver Bacciano explained in a report published in the British newspaper "Theguardian", that the Filipino artist, Bioabad, digitally recreated a huge collection of gems, which Imelda had tried to smuggle out of the country in 1986, when her husband was ousted from the presidency and she and her children were exiled to Hawaii. .
Abad says, "I am trying endlessly to get to the exact truth of this date. There are upcoming elections in the Philippines and son Marcos Jr. is currently leading in the opinion polls. Historic amnesia is in the air."
An appraiser at Christie's and Sotheby's examines jewelry confiscated by the Philippine government (French)
During his three terms as president of the Philippines since 1965, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda managed to carve out about $10 billion in state assets through offshore banks.
For a decade, the artist has been working under the Jane Ryan and William Saunders Collection title, a reference to the pseudonyms the Marcus couple used with the Swiss bank.
The pink diamond from Imelda's jewelry could have bought two airports (Getty Images)
Abad says a set of Imelda bracelets could have provided vaccines for thousands of children, and a single Cartier crown contains more than 21 meters (by the surface) painstakingly made by Wadsworth Jones.
From the website of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, an art institution opened by Imelda Marcos herself, people will be able to place 3D images of gems, or wear them using a virtual reality app.
"I like to think that the fair can become a place of redress, where justice can be done, no matter how small," Abad says.
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos (centre) owns an impressive collection of jewelry that was later confiscated (European)
And this isn't the artist's first display of reproductions, as digital files were originally used to create 3D-printed replicas, made of off-white plastic, for display at the 2019 Honolulu Biennale. "The scene of the crime, but perhaps as ghosts. It was an unsaturated version of a shiny gem."
Next to each bracelet and necklace in the gallery is a small plaque indicating the market value, and what could have been paid for by national infrastructure or government aid.
“Pink diamonds, for example, could have bought two airports. A set of bracelets could have given vaccines to thousands of children. We wanted them to be seen not for their aesthetic value, but in terms of the painful possibilities that were lost,” Abad says.