Opening Celebration: Mountain Spirits Exhibit at Fowler Museum, co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific Alumni Association of UCLA

Come celebrate the opening of Mountain Spirits: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines. The evening will feature a musical performance that highlights cultural pride and global connections between the Philippines and Los Angeles.

Enjoy a dynamic performance of Echoes of the Cordillera Mountains by Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts, based in Los Angeles, in collaboration with community artists. Curated by Artistic Director Peter de Guzman, the program will offer an inspiring exploration of music and dance rooted in the highland cultures of Luzon, Philippines.

About the exhibition:
For generations, the Ifugao of northern Luzon have transformed steep mountainsides into rice terraces—astonishing feats of engineering that are also sacred landscapes shaped by ritual, community, and a profound connection to land.

Mountain Spirits immerses visitors in this world through carved guardians, ritual bowls, woven blankets, farming tools, soundscapes, and video installations. Together, these works reveal how sustenance and spirituality are entwined; and how generosity, labor, and environmental care nurture Ifugao life.

Recognized by UNESCO for embodying ancestral knowledge and sustainable practices, the terraces remain enduring testaments to human ingenuity and ecological balance. They are not monuments to the past, but living sites where memory, work, and spirit continue to converge.

Co-sponsored by 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 Senator Loren Legarda (Senate of the Philippines).