Howls from the Humanities and Letters (HumLet) Wolves echoed through their keyboards after their representatives Shyne Briones, Alleiah Igbalic, Ruchi Garsuta, and Yashine Luz bested in the Digital Banner Making competition, which was revealed during the closing program of the 72nd Ateneo Fiesta yesterday.

The winning piece featured a dark-themed color palette with Mama Mary at the center, tears in her eyes, and in her embrace were the frontliners doing their best to combat the pandemic. 

Although the Wolves featured frontliners in their banner, Briones emphasized that they did not want to romanticize the plights of the frontliners.

“We had to acknowledge that this was a very dark time for the country. We wanted to show that a lot of people were left behind because of the crisis,” she said.

She continued that they wanted to remind how the people must learn to “weep with those who weep and mourn [with] those who mourn” and at the same time, not to lose hope. She also added that the event was a humbling experience.

“The AdDU fiesta is a time when people gather, whether physically or in spirit, and enjoy moments together. Friendship and solidarity are victories no title could ever replace,” she said.

Luz stressed the humbling reminder of Filipino resilience and solidarity in relation to their work.

“We wanted to remind people of the solidarity and resilience of the Filipino people despite this pandemic,” Luz said. 

SAMAHAN Secretary-General and 72nd Ateneo Fiesta Project Head Samantha Claire Cayona commented that the participants’ outputs were very meaningful because of the message and symbols the artists put together to tell inspiring and relevant stories in these trying times.

“I am amazed by the fact that these artworks were done by multiple people working together virtually and coming up with masterpieces out of their limited resources,” she said.

Cayona praised how the clusters were able to send out their message clearly and step out of their comfort zone.

The School of Nursing (SON) Panthers and Social Sciences (SS) Dragons’ placed first runner up and second runner up respectively.

In contrast with the HumLet’s banner, the Panthers and Dragons used a lighter color palette to resemble the hard work of the frontliners.

Panthers used pink to represent togetherness, hope, and resilience, while Dragons used the combination of black and yellow to showcase that there was hope despite dark times.