TIRADOR

TIRADOR is an artwork about a man waiting for something while he and his bike are parked in dingy spot in Blumentritt. He looks at something, in all probability he's looking at you, in a way that is quite demeaning, as if he's trying to size you up if you'll put up a fight or not. He might be looking for valuables, a golden ring or an expensive watch or that phone you carelessly tucked in, in one of your loose pockets. He sees people not just naive men or women; he sees them as a mark.

He's a thief. Disguised as a tool merchant, he's actually on the lookout for dangling earrings and unbolted baggage and loose wallets he can easily pick without notice by the inattentive passerby. He might not even be the one to do the deed himself, he can point his toothpick on the target and one of his accomplices might follow that person and takes their valuables. 

I'm from Tondo, and near Blumentritt, where most of the thieves thrive in Manila. They sometimes work alone or with partners and other thieves in tandem, zeroing on you, their chosen victim, like a pack of wolves ready to pounce at the right moment. While you, unaware of it all, the mindless hit that you are, is just walking without a care in the world, smiling and slowly pacing yourself and all of a sudden... BAM!

Your necklace, your cell phone or your wallet is gone. Before you can even react or scream for help, they, like a well practiced dance, are rushing away, like a gust of wind, like a Pelican snatching a fish from the sea. Silent, like a flying stone from a fired slingshot. 

You might be asking, how was I able to tell that this guy on my artwork is a thief? To be honest, I really can't for certain. Let me be clear, this is just speculation, I don't want to degrade this man who's just minding his own business at the side of the street to be, a hundred percent, thief. Although with that said, there are some things one can notice to deduce someone's intentions by just looking at them.

I really don't mean to judge people, so let's just base it from my experience with people or let's be more  cautious and mindful of our surroundings. With that said, there are tells for everything. And what I am about to explain is that of the thieves where I'm from.

For one thing, it's the way he looks. See that look of him? Really truly see it. It's like he's up to something no good. It's like he's trying to read off of you like you're an open book, like you're made-up of words, and he is doing exactly just that. I know because that exactly is what I'm doing to him now, reading his physical tells and body language. 

He and most thieves where I live, and probably all over the world too, do the same thing. They read people who are an easy mark. They deduce if you'll put up a fight by your movements alone. They can tell if you have a black belt in karate or if you're a push over in school by the way you move. They choose their mark by reading the body language of their target. You might be unaware of this and might be saying this is absurd but it's nothing to dismiss. 

There are a lot of studies on knowing a threat just from reading their body language. Security personnel like guards and police all study this to determine who is a potential threat. They are on the lookout for people who act an unusual way, people who move either too stiff (because they're concealing a gun) to move or too jittery (because they are nervous of pulling off a heist) to stand still. 

Body language is what authorities use to survey individuals of their behavior because it's their job, not only to neutralize a threat when it does happen, but it's also up to them to stop or detect people with seriously bad intentions before they can actually do it. Kind of like "prevention is better than cure" type of deal. They don't get all of their hunches right, but it's better safe than sorry. I mean, if they're wrong, it's only a minor inconvenience for their suspect, but if they get it right then it means safety for everyone. 

The term "poker face" is also somewhat based off on reading one's body language. It's a tell one notices when playing a game or poker to tell if his opponent is bluffing or telling the truth. It's a common thing to try and read your opponent's hand by reading his face if he has a legit hand to win the game or he's bluffing just letting you bet more of your money while he has a losing hand. 

What's fascinating about all of this is that if you do know this, if you're aware of it, you'll know how you can prevent being a target of manipulative people and thieves alike. There are many ways to do so and you can research on your own, but the first thing to fend off thieves and people who prey upon you is simply just being fully aware of where you're at and being protective of your stuff. 

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that, the less people see of your expensive stuff, the more of a target you are. Showing off your new iPhone and filling your body with shiny and expensive jewelries when you're in a rural and crime heavy place is a sure way to be a mark. Unless, of course, you want to boast your new things just so people would envy you, then you deserve it. 

Be extremely aware of where you're at. Like I said above, you might be safe inside your school or office space , but if you're in public, especially a heavily dense area of people and poverty, you can bet that it's not a place to flaunt your belongings. You are actually the one putting the mark on yourself in this case, it's like painting a big red X on yourself to be picked on by pirates.

I tell you, it's not really a good experience to be a target. You might get traumatized by it and might be afraid to go out for a few days, or you might even be afraid to pass by the same street ever again. To me that's one of the worse things that can happen, being afraid of the city you live in. That you can no longer enjoy walking by yourself in your own hometown fearing of getting mugged again because you can't learn a lesson on humility of dressing adequately so that eyes aren't on you every time you go out.

In addition in making yourself a target, especially here in Blumentritt, is if you're too obvious that it's your first time here. You know that look you do when you're lost and confused? Yeah the thieves pick up on that fast and read it off you in a quick glance. Either you're from the province and you just got off a jeepney or you just got off of the LRT1 who's just trying to visit a friend for the first time, undoubtedly you will be a target. Just by the way you seem to not know where to go once you descended from your transport, and I tell you, Blumentritt can be a very busy place to navigate to even if you already are used to its daily chaos of cars, tricycles, street vendors and yes, even thieves. 

Another tell you're a newbie or a can be a potential target is when you're wearing your backpack on your back. I think a lot of people are already aware of this one but in case you didn't know... in Blumentritt, Tondo, Divisoria, Quiapo and in other crowded places in Manila (even in the trains and as well as long lines), you have to wear your backpack in front of you. Like uh, well... a "front pack". This way, no one can access or easily open and pick anything in your bag while you're idly waiting or walking the streets. It's really a big tell, especially to the pickpockets because it signifies to them that you've never been robbed this way before and so, like a virgin tree, they pick the fruits of your labor. 

The worst thing that can happen is you die. You get mugged and you fight back and you get stabbed and you get hospitalized and you die even before you get to the hospital. This actually happened to me. I got mugged, fought back (because I didn't want them to give them my backpack), they stabbed me and punctured one of my lungs. Before I even got to the hospital, I had a near death experience. I saw that bright light everyone talks about when they have a NDE, my loved ones flashed before my eyes, my dreams flew away from me all because I thought I was a tough guy, walking alone in a dark unlit street. Miraculously, I survived but it's not an experience I'd be willing to go through again. 

To be honest, it's not just in Blumentritt you should be hypersensitive of your belongings and surroundings and of the people around you. It's good practice to be aware of all of these wherever you go because thieves, pickpockets, scammers even con artists do go to malls, theme parks, hotels and might even be your co-workers and envious friends (in real life and on Facebook). 

All of them can steal from us and have our priced possessions be sold on eBay or be peddled in the streets if we're not too careful. We also shouldn't trust anyone so easily. In my experience, trust should be earned and not be given away to anyone like the free fliers you get from strangers. If you do trust anyone you come into contact with, that just gives people (with an agenda) a tell that you're one gullible motherfucker. This is not a harsh view of the world either, it's just how nature is. 

Wolves and lions band together and hunt the weak and prey on the unfit. They gang up on them and devour what they can when they corner their hunted. They are hunters after all, and so it is true in our social order. The wolves of our society also prey on the weak and the untrained and inexperienced, even the good hearted... especially the good hearted, for they see that their kind hearts see no evil in others, and are therefore are the first to be toyed with, used and abused by those who are more narcissistic, cunning and wily. 

And yet, good people still survive. Good hearts still prevail. Not because our souls are affected by the corrupt, but because the thieves can only steal our possessions and our money, our time and hard work and sometimes, even our words and ideas. But in the end, they can only steal so much, but in truth they will never steal our soul.

Our will, our soul, can produce anything effortlessly with ease if we are true to it. It does not really matter if someone steals our things, we can just buy them again. It doesn't matter if they steal our hard earned work of art and stories, because we know there's more of where that came from. I think our soul can produce more and more endlessly and tirelessly even if it's easier for others to steal our work.

Instead of learning the right way of how to create or figuring out how to make something, instead of earning something from hard work, they take if from others by secret and sleight of hand. Thieves believe that they can't produce something of value on their own. They take what is not theirs, especially great ideas by others, because they have accepted that they will never be that good no matter how they try. Because thieves think that the only talent they have is stealing something when no one is looking. But that isn't true. 

Anyone can do anything if one puts enough effort into it. They can get a job though recognition of the good work they do and even flourish by trying their best and being creative in their chosen field even if they are just making ends meet. If they instead put their scheming into good use, they might even have a name for themselves. It's not going to be easy, but nothing really is! 

If they're smart enough to outwit people through conning them, I think they can be smart enough to think of a way to be able to work productively without having to stick a knife to someone who looks weak. A factor of this might even be minimizing your goals to a realistic level so that you don't end up stealing someone else's ideas to gratify your false sense of ego and grandeur. 

If you've given up on trying your best or living a simple life without fucking anyone over by stealing from them, then you have robbed yourself of hope. You can figure things out, there's no need to steal or try to be thieves. I think that's a bold statement for me to say, but I think it's just an excuse people tell themselves because it's easier to rob someone than to give it a shot to think of one's own brilliant ideas. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even thieves have souls. They steal because they think that it's all they're good for and it's all they're good at, but to be honest, one can be who he truly believes. If you believe you're only good in stealing, or just good at being mugged by strangers in an ally, then that's all you'll be.

It's what we do even the odds are stacked against us, even if some people see others only as thieves waiting for their next target. It's what we do in these times of hardship and not the judgement of other people that truly defines us of who we are. 

Tirador is a Filipino word which means slingshot in English. Tirador actually means a lot of things here, like I said above, it could also mean a thief. But it can also mean far worse: a shooter, killer, hit man or contract killer. It's far deadlier than the thief I described that can be found in our cities, but if you think about it, they can be one step close to a hired killer if these thieves were tasked instead of taking something, they are paid to take a life. 

Some of them might think, "Hey, we're already doing bad things and getting away with it, what's the difference?" Like I said, I was stabbed when I got mugged, I don't think that was a contract killer by any means, but I did feel death. And I don't think that the thieves that mugged me aimed to kill me in the first place. It's just to scare me off so that I'd give them my stuff, but that's not what happened. I fought them and they fought me back, to a point of killing me. It's not as romantic as stealing in the movies when a life is involved. 

To which I say; they don't deserve only this one path in life of stealing and killing. Even if they have wronged me. I still believe in some way, that everybody is redeemable if they change their ways for the better. Even if they think that they have hit rock bottom.

I once heard from a self help seminar I was watching on YouTube (and if you know about this one, do let me know), that if you've hit rock bottom, that all-time low, that deepest darkest and most depressing state in your life, imagine yourself just being a rubber band. The longer and farther you stretch yourself to one point, like when you're in the bottom,  when you let go, the farther you'll shoot yourself from where you once was. Like trying to kick the deep end of a swimming pool to ricochet yourself to safety. 

What I'm trying to say is that, the reason I painted this man, aside from being a great subject to paint because he may or may not depict a thief pretending to be a tools sales man, is because I still found beauty in him. Not just the colors of his gritty and do it yourself patched-up bike, not just the striped rag he wears on his head that really makes him look like a pirate along with that protruding tooth pick.

It's also that look he gives. He's just himself, which I think what makes him beautiful. Unapologetic, old and wrinkled, weathered and seasoned, on the verge of starving and yet, still surviving.

I maybe a hypocrite by saying this (although I might not extend this awe to everyone), but like the wolves and lions and other predators that we see hunting their food, their hunt amazes us. As much as we want to save their prey, as harrowing it is to watch them devour a lamb or a wildebeest, we stand spellbound and let it unfold. 

Like we all do when someone is mugged or has their earring taken and the snatcher flees away fast like a leopard, running away from the herd and masses, as he weaves himself in the field of rusted houses and labyrinth-like alleys.

There is some beauty to be found in the ugliness of how the city we live in has changed some people, of how they have learned to survive and be untamed as hyenas in the wild.

Even if it's only for a second, only a glimmer of their true selves is revealed to us, a glimpse of their animal nature unfolds. In the slightest we see a man free of rules.

Like when releasing the band, the stone mid air.

A moment of silence, before witnessing the chaos.

Caused by a Tirador.

TIRADOR

hand painted art print

9 × 12"
Marius Black 2019
Manila Ukiyo-E