The rice terraces of Ifugao in northern Luzon cascade across mountainous terrain, reflecting centuries of Indigenous engineering, agricultural knowledge, and cultural stewardship that continue to shape community life today. – Photo credit : Paul Connor
Opening program highlights Ifugao heritage, Indigenous knowledge, and diaspora ties through music, dance and material culture
LOS ANGELES — An exhibition centered on the cultural traditions of the Ifugao people in the northern Philippines will open April 11 at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, located at 308 Charles E. Young Drive North on the University of California, Los Angeles campus, with a public program featuring Cordillera music and dance.
Titled Mountain Spirits: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines, the exhibition examines how Ifugao communities transformed mountainous terrain into rice terraces widely recognized for their engineering and cultural significance. The opening celebration runs from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and is free to the public.
A performance rooted in ritual, community and continuity
The evening will feature “Echoes of the Cordillera Mountains,” a performance by Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts and BIMAK, representing Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Apayao and Kalinga. Curated by Peter de Guzman and Michael Wandag, the program draws from courtship traditions, harvest rituals and community life, accompanied by bamboo instruments and gongs central to Cordillera culture.
Rice terraces as living systems of knowledge and stewardship
The exhibition highlights the Ifugao rice terraces, recognized by the UNESCO for their cultural and ecological value. Through carvings, textiles, ritual objects and multimedia installations, it examines how agriculture, spirituality and social organization remain deeply interconnected.
Academic, civic and diplomatic partnerships anchor the program
Co-sponsors include the Asian Pacific Alumni Association of UCLA, UCLA Division of Social Sciences, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement, the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, and the Office of Loren Legarda.
