Viral Jewelry Exhibition Infuriates the Whole Internet
Recently, a Twitter user posted a series of photos from a jewelry exhibition that soon became a viral thread on the internet. It is a special exhibition that consists of only 3D printed jewelry pieces, which looks cheap and plastic. The caption for each piece of jewelry isn’t its value or design inspiration, but a short statement:
“52,631 textbooks for Grades 11 & 12”
“Housing for 1,200 homeless beneficiaries”
“15% of the total budget of the construction of Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit Line-2”
“Support for 310 indigenous family beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program, Pantawaid Pamilyang Philipino Program”
Photo by Twitter user: @hugdrugs
“The treatment of 12,052 cases of tuberculosis until their full recovery”
Photo by Twitter user: @hugdrugs
“The average income of 15 Filipinos”
Photo by Twitter user: @hugdrugs
“Four-year tuition for 2,000 college students in a Philippine state university”
Photo by Twitter user: @hugdrugs
“The full immunization of 20,000 children plus 17,600 pneumococcal vaccines to senior citizens and infants”
Photo by Twitter user: @hugdrugs
Why is it crucial to reveal the worth of the jewelry in the form of social welfare instead of the actual price? It has to do with the owner of the jewelry, Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines.
Imelda Marcos. Photo by Lauren Greenfield.
Imelda Macros grew up in a wealthy lawyer’s family, she won second place of Miss Manila Beauty Pageant at the age of 24. A year later, she met Ferdinand Marcos, a member of Congress. They married 11 days later and was soon to be known as the greediest couple in the Philippines. With her good appearance, experience running for Manila’s Beauty Pageant and networking skills, Imelda helped her husband win most votes for Presidency in 1965, whereas she became First Lady. At the same time, the couple’s desire for wealth grew and grew. In the end, they started getting their hands on the wealth of the country.
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.
Their corrupted wealth involves 50 billion dollars of financial aid from Japan in 1970s, over 10 billion dollars loan from World Bank to support the development of the country, not to mention the taxes paid by Philippines’ taxpayers. Even Imelda herself quotes: “We practically own everything in the Philippines, from electricity, telecommunications, airlines, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate and insurance.”. The couple was “rewarded” for making the Greatest Robbery of a Government by Guinness World Record in 1989, for they stole the wealth of an entire country.
The couple was estimated to have amassed assets worth US$5-10 billion during their 21-year regime in the Philippines. Imelda’s property includes but is not limited to over 5000 outfits, two museums of shoes, 100 kilograms of jewelry, 175 masterpieces from Monet, Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli; not to mention four predominant New York buildings she purchased: the Crown Building, 40 Wall Street (former building of Trump Building), the Herald Center (former location of Macy’s) and 200 Madison Avenue. Because of her lavish spending, the Philippines media frequently compare her to Marie Antoinette of France.
Imelda Marcos’s shoe collection. The Economist.
In 1986, when Ferdinand was exiled from President’s throne, the Marcos’ fled to Hawaii. US customs searched their luggage and documented 23 pages of official records including millions of dollars in cash, stocks, gold bricks inscribed “To my husband on our 24th anniversary” and 413 pieces of jewelry which were the original inspiration of the 3D printed exhibits.
As Filipino Esquire Magazine puts it, “the stories of Imelda Marcos’ extravagance and corruption are well-documented.” The 3D printed replicas give visitors an idea on how much could’ve been done with the money that the jewelry is worth. The Philippines never owed national debt, but during the 21-year presidency of Ferdinand, he accumulated 265 billion dollars in national debt. The people of Philippines had to suffer the outcome. Over 70% of Filipinos are in poverty, the majority of Filipino women has to engage in prostitution to support their family or even sell themselves as international brides. It’s heartbreaking to think that the lives of those women cannot compared to the worth Imelda’s jewelry.
This exhibition is curated by Pio Abad and Frances Wadsworth Jones, it is titled The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders. “Jane Ryan and William Saunders were the false identities used by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos to register their first Swiss bank account at Credit Suisse Zurich in March 1968, which enabled them to transform a huge proportion of the Philippine treasury into private wealth under the guidance of the Western banking system.” Explains Abad.
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