‘Homeless man’ draws on wall using leaves
BACOLOD CITY — Netizens were amazed how a “homeless man” was able to draw on a wall using only leaves as his material in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental.
Clyde Elloren Tapdasan, 23, who loves photography as one of his hobbies, took photos of the man named Aikel, oftenly called by his nickname “Oggie.”
Tapdasan posted the photos of Aikel and his art work on his Facebook account on Sept. 2 with a caption, “di man siya kagaya natin na may matinong pag-iisip pero meron naman siyang... high IQ, knowledge how to sketch on a wall, kagaya nito, using a leaf, no other materials (He’s not like us, with a sound mind, but he has a high IQ, the skill to sketch on a wall, like this).”
His post garnered 18,600 shares and 16,800 reactions from netizens, as of this writing.
In fact, many netizens showed their appreciation to Aikel’s creativity and talent, while some signified to extend help to him.
Tapdasan first spotted Aikel when he went to the bus terminal. They gave him food.
The second time was when Aikel passed by their house and asked for a glass of water, Tapdasan said, adding that their house was just near the Boulevard.
Tapdasan said that when his grandfather talked to Aikel, they learned that the latter also knew how to write Latin words.
Tapdasan said they had no idea how long Aikel had been staying in the said area, as he would usually answer them far from the questions they would ask.
Tapdasan said one of the netizens commented on his post saying that Aikel was from Barangay Gamao in the city and had relatives there. The problem, however, is that Aikel probably cannot remember them.
Tapdasan said that Aikel drew an ancient palace similar to Simala Church in Cebu.
“Drawing po iyon gamit lang ang mga dahon na tumutubo kung saan saan (It was a drawing he made using only leaves that grew around the area),” he said, adding that it probably took Aikel three to four days to finish the artwork.
“Pinupunasan niya ulit ng dahon para po hindi mabura kasi maulan dito nung mga kasunod na araw na iyon (He would wipe the leaves dry to make sure they didn’t get erased because it had been raining),” he said.
After his post went viral, Tapdasan said there were people from Manila who wanted to help Aikel, but because of the pandemic restrictions it might be difficult to do so for now. He said, however, that some people in the city would offer him food, as he would just sleep on a folded box in front of the bus terminal.
Tapdasan said the moment he saw Aikel, he just wanted to capture him and his artwork.
“Simple lang naman po, napahanga po talaga ako sa drawing niya kasi dahon lang gamit niya kaya naisipan ko po na kunan siya ng picture habang nag drawing, tapos para din po makita siya ng may mga mabubuting tao po para matulungan po siya (I was simply in awe of him because he was doing the artwork using just leaves and so I wanted the good people to see him in case they could help him),” he added.