“Lihal is a multimedia project with an e-magazine as its center stage. We aim to improve the views of non-Moros by placing them in the perspective of Moros, and to show their progress as they have reached autonomy as a region.”
Small facts. Big meanings.
FACT 1
BARMM consists of 5 provinces: Basilan (excluding Isabela City), Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi.
FACT 2
Moros refer to the indigenous Muslim-majority of Bangsamoro. Lumads, even though they are located within the region, are not Moro as they practice animism.
FACT 3
The popular budget food, pastil, roots from Maguindanao. Any meat is welcome as a topping, but not pork.
1. Discovery
The researchers were made aware of the formation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) by their former groupmate, who pitched in the subject for their research. From there on, the researchers have followed the research into the creation of their capstone, Lihal.
2. Design
The design behind the e-magazine and website was based of neighboring Southeast Asian countries who are pre-dominantly Muslim. Instead of the sharpness of Arabic script, more fun shapes and colors were used. The shapes and colors used are variations of colors often used in Moro visual identities.
3. Development
From an online comic to an e-magazine, Lihal has gone through developments on finding appropriate ways to create representation. The researchers themselves are not Muslim, extensive research was done to understand the Moro visual identity along with their fellow Muslims within Southeast Asia.