MANILA, Philippines ? Motherhood can be depicted in many ways ? a woman holding her babe to her breast, a probinsyana bathing her toddlers in the stream, or even a corporately-dressed lady with a white cat in her lap.

At one end of the vast exhibit of paintings, an artist has shown that through bold strokes and soft colors, even a young girl of ten can be painted as a mother to her blond-haired doll.

?The mother and child has always been a recurring theme in art, and we found it especially apt during the Christmas season,? said exhibit organizer and painter Romy Carlos.

The University of the Philippines Alumni Association launched the exhibit before Christmas and will run until Jan. 15 next year. Featuring 62 paintings, the exhibit at the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City, is one of the culminating events of the UP centennial this year.

The exhibit was an offshoot of the successful 100 Nudes/ 100 Years display early this year, also to celebrate the state university?s first 100 years.

?We chose the mother and child theme in time for Christmas. But we wanted it to be broad, no religious tones, so that artists may have their own interpretations,? Carlos said.

While the artists ? all of them UP graduates ? had different ideas on what and how their paintings would look like, all clearly depicted a tender intimacy between a mother and her child.

A common theme was breastfeeding, like Inquirer cartoonist Jess Abrera?s pen and ink creation ?Handog ng Buhay,? a sketch of a mom letting her kid drink milk from her breast.

A painting by Bencab featured an infant swaddled in white, peacefully resting on the mother?s lap.

Renowned painter Araceli Dans meanwhile used bold colors in her acrylic on canvas, ?Yakap ng Kapayapaan 2008,? which slightly resembled depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Another Dans piece, ?Madonna ng Lansangan 2008,? featured a mother with her child sleeping on her shoulder, encircled by a bright yellow halo.

?I painted them from my imagination, without any model,? Dans said in an interview.

In depicting the theme, Dans looked back on her experience of mothering ten children and 35 grandchildren.

?In the way a mother loves a child, she has so much fulfillment, and peace. You see them grow up, you feed them, you nurture them,? she pointed out.

Indeed, one of the paintings, the monochromatic ?Breath of Life? by Norlito Meimban, show a close up of a mother breathing air into her new born child.

?I wanted to focus more on the face of the child ... A baby?s face is more expressive, its innocence really shows how glad it is to receive the breath from its mother,? Meimban explained.

Another piece showed the rugged life of an Igorot and her child trying to make it in the city amidst towering skyscrapers and snaking flyovers.

Two different paintings, though having the same title ?Mother and child,? showed different pictures ? a woman in business attire stroking a white cat on her lap and a young girl holding out a blond haired doll.

For the environmental advocates, Esther Garcia?s ?Mother Earth,? revealed a naked woman, painted in mostly brown and other earth hues, holding a brown colored globe in her hands.

?It only shows that there are different interpretations of mother and child. Nakakatuwa (It?s amusing),? Carlos shared.

But how does a man, who has never undergone childbirth, try to convey the mother and child unlike a woman painter who has known how painful and how joyous motherhood can be?

For Carlos, he tried to remember how his own mother was like while he was growing up.

?I can relate more with the child, that I am the child being nurtured by the mother. I remembered images of my mother breastfeeding. But it doesn?t mean that I understand being a mother less,? he explained.

Dans however pointed out that a painting, be it drawn by a man or a woman, would always show the tenderness of mother and child.

?I don?t think there would be a difference. Because men are as loving as women, so they can show the same emotions as women painters,? she said.

(The Mother and Child exhibit of the UPAA will run for free until Jan. 15, 2009 at the third floor Trade Hall of the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City.)