Pastel Drawing of the Mining Cooperative Ruins

I made a pastel drawing of what used to be the site of the National Mines and Allied Workers Union (NaMAWU) Cooperative building in Philex Mines upon graduating from college, eight years after the July 16, 1990 major earthquake.   It was from a direct view behind the house of my aunt where I intermittently stayed while looking for a job in Baguio City.  The subject is the site of the old miners' cooperative.  The retaining wall at the base of the building slid and cracked during the earthquake, pulling the building down with it.

The drawing shows what remains of the building eight years after the earthquake -- the retaining walls in blue, some of the building's posts and beams, and a small adjoining structure near the tilted electric posts.  The access road bends at the left of the drawing, in red and brown pastel.

The old miners' cooperative site in a place called "Skyline".   Pastel on paper drawn in 1998, eight years after the 1990 earthquake.  The damaged retaining wall is drawn in blue; vegetation already grown in the former building's footprint.

Last year (2010), twelve years since my last visit to Philex Mines, Tagaphilexako posted a photo of the same place, framed from the bottom part of the retaining wall.  The retaining wall at the top-left of the photo is already overgrown by vegetation but an old house still hangs precariously at the edge of the mountain below the pine tree.

I'm just sorry I don't have a photo of how the cooperative building looked like before the earthquake.  Maybe one of you Philex readers can help me with that.

Approximately the same site as the old miners' cooperative pastel drawing above.  Photo taken by Tagaphilexako in 2010 (nineteen years after the July 16, 1990 earthquake).  The building's retaining wall is at the top left of the picture, already covered by vegetation.

In nineteen years the mountain has already reclaimed the site.  There is now very little evidence of the cooperative building and the house near it.  Perhaps in a few more years it would be difficult for one to conceive that a commercial building and houses lined this part of the mountain.

ART, apart from being a means of human expression, also serves history and archaeology.