Acclaimed Filipino artist Deanna Sipaco, who sadly passed away in September 2005 at the age of 33, was the recent beneficiary of a posthumous award for her life achievements and advocacy at the 10th World Down Syndrome Congress in Dublin, Ireland. The Board of Down Syndrome International (DSi) wanted Deanna to receive proper recognition for her role as an advocate for people with Down syndrome worldwide and for leading by example through her dedication to her art work, and the award was presented to her parents Alberto and Diana Sipaco.
During her life, Deanna consistently withstood the challenges brought about by her condition, and developed an exceptional talent for oil and acrylic painting, exploring her passion for colours and shapes, receiving national and later international recognition for her art and being asked to display her work at art exhibits and conventions all over the World.
Deanna frequently attended international exhibits, and would introduce herself as the person behind the paintings, telling the stories behind her works. Indeed in her 2004 publication “Breaking down barriers: A Deanna C. Sipaco Story”, Dr Agnes Togon recalled that during the 16th Asian Conference on Mental Retardation in Tsukuba, Japan in 2003, Deanna “stood before a crowd with obvious enthusiasm and spoke in a most confident manner. She capped her talk with a very enthusiastic invitation to everyone to visit her painting at the exhibit hall. The audience was in high spirits, and they spontaneously responded to the invitation with applause”.
In 2001, The Sipaco family founded the “DS Foundation for the Differently-Abled Inc.” to develop and enhance the talents of special children to their fullest potential. DS stands both for “Deanna Sipaco”, who was a board trustee, and for “Down syndrome” and the Foundation, located in Davao City, Philippines, now serves at least 60 young people with Down syndrome and other learning disabilities. They offer free lessons on visual arts, music, and adaptive sports development for children, and therapeutic, early intervention and guidance services for parents.
At least 70 of Deanna’s paintings are displayed at the DS Foundation, providing a kaleidoscopic blast of vibrant colours and an inspiration to the people who attend. Deanna’s mother Diana recalls that her daughter used to serve as a “manang (elder sister) to the children and at the same time, a student. She interacted with them often and the children adored her”.
Deanna’s father Alberto said he was hoping that the foundation would be able to serve more and more children in the future “The call is for us to continue this because we are on the right track. The legacy and advocacy left by Dean-Dean (Deanna) must be multiplied. We would like to impart our experiences with Dean-Dean through the foundation. The journey that we had with her, we are going to share this to parents. The support groups of the children in similar circumstances as her—it propelled us to this effort,” he said.
On Deanna’s award, Alberto said "The decision of the governing board of DSi to bestow on our late daughter a posthumous award certainly gives the DS Foundation, the DS children and those of their support group and parents as well as the Filipino people, great recognition and singular honour. It is with the deepest sense of pride to accept the same".
In return, DSi has gratefully accepted two of Deanna’s paintings from the Sipaco family, which are now displayed at DSi’s international office at the Langdon Down Centre in London, UK. It is appropriate that her work should have pride of place at the former home of Dr John Langdon Down and we would like to express a heartfelt thank you to her family for these gifts.
