This new exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA will run April 12, 2026 to January 2027.

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: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines 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. 

Vital Matters

Vital Matters highlights the animacy and vitality of material objects, emphasizing their central role in cultural and spiritual practices. It underscores the indispensable importance of these works to the cultural heritage of individuals and communities.

Stephen Acabado, Professor of Anthropology, UCLA; Director of UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies

• The Origins of the Ifugao Rice Terraces: Challenging the 2,000-Year-Old Narrative
• Spiritual and Practical: Rice Cycle Rituals in Ifugao
• Tinawon: The Benefits of a Traditional, Single-Harvest Rice Crop
• Changing Patterns of Rainfall in Ifugao
• Gendered Division of Labor in Ifugao Agriculture

Marlon Martin, Executive Director of Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement; Co-director of Ifugao Archaeological Project

• The 25-year-long, Community-Driven Effort of Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement to Conserve and Strengthen Ifugao Heritage
• Ifugao Values, Ancestral Wisdom, and the Impact of Assimilation and Nation Building on Ifugao Identity
• The Disruption of Traditional Ways of Knowing by Formal Education
• Ifugao Customary Law and the Role of Amama-a (Wise People)
• Human Limits and Trusting What Cannot Be Controlled to the Gods
• The Ifugao Pantheon
• The Role of Rice Deities in Ifugao
• Marlon Martin's Early Childhood and Experience with Rice Rituals
• The Use of Traditional Rituals by the American Colonial Government
• Consecration: From Wood Carving to Bulul
• The Cultural Meaning of Bululs and the Variation of Forms, Styles, and Uses Across Time and Regions
• The Pairing of Masculine and Feminine in Bulul
• Taguiling and the "American" Bululs
• The Challenge of Authentication: The Impact of Trade on Museum Collections

Eulalie Dulnuan, Tourism and Cultural Officer; President of the Ifugao Intangible Heritage and Performing Arts Society

• The Role of the Ifugao Indigenous People's Education Center
• The Role of Education in Understanding Identify and Heritage
• The Complex Tension Between Cultural Preservation and Commercial Demand
• The Visible and Invisible Impacts of Tourism-Driven Commercialization
• The Cultural Tradition of Craftsmanship: Woodcarvers of Hungduan
• Variations in Practice Among Carvers Producing for Cultural Purposes and Tourism
• Tourism and the Transformation of Traditional Craftsmanship into Commercial Industry
• The Impact of Increased Production on the Supply of Traditional Hardwoods
• Bululs as Souvenirs for Visitors
• Children's Changing Perceptions of Bululs: From Fear to Familiarity
• A Childhood Memory of Unknowingly Entering a Rice Granary

Armand Camhol, Doctoral Candidate, National Chengchi University in Taiwan

• The Persistence of Shamanic Traditions in Ifugao
• Not Rice Gods: Exploring Misconceptions of Bulul -
• Uses and Meanings of Bulul
• A Personal Reflection on Seeing Bulul Figures as a Child
• Commissioning the Carvings
• The Lighter Sides of Bulul Figures and the Need for Cross-Cultural Studies
• Male and Female Both: Paired Gendered Bululs to Support Agricultural Prosperity