Diwatas (nymphs and fairies) inhabit many of Tara Natividad’s canvases.

“ A mythological creature believed in the archipelago to reside in acacia and balete trees.

“But it’s not dreamy illusions, fantasy or nudity that I’m chiefly framing in my works,” Tara Natividad explains. “Diwatas are nature-dwellers. I’m painting them to pose the question of where we’ll find them if we cover everything around us with steel, plastic and concrete.”

Talent surfaced in Tara Natividad’s while taking up a degree in nursing she joined Tropang Paltok, a performing and visual arts group, further encouraging and honing her artistic expressions. One of the group’s founders, EV Espiritu, taught her paper mache, which she incorporates in many of her works.

Her art path continued to another group “Silayan” which she and several of her creative friends formed. It was this group’s first show that initially linked her to Tam-awan, where they held their exhibit. After constant visits to the place and reinforced interaction with the artists, she became a member.

“When women have children of their own, they almost always give up their artistic pursuits and concentrate on their family life – it is difficult to balance time, but as long as you have the heart to create and the drive to keep your fire burning you will find a way and give yourself that moment of peace.” In her transition to motherhood, her connection to the Diwatas did not waver. From the mesmerizing beauty of Diwata ladies, her subject is now transformed to the image of women as enduring mothers and nurturers yet still maintaining their mystic allure.

Neither of those hindrances deters her in creating art and being taken seriously. As the first child in a brood of six brought up by a nonagenarian grandmother and a single mother, she has intimate epitomes of strength in her home to begin with. Then, perhaps too, Tara Natividad paints Diwatas to populate her canvasses with women, not to identify or widen the gulf between the sexes, these subjects being magical women with powers for beauty and goodness. Natividad currently draws inspiration from her children, the memory of her grandmother, and the strong women of the Cordilleras she connected to while maturing as one of the few women artists in Baguio City. (Gawani Domogo & Dumay Solinggay)