Hero Collaborations: In Hoc Signo Vinces (In This Sign Thou Shalt Conquer)

Artist: Joshua Barrera Collaborator (AR Animation): Hero Granada 48" x 48" Acrylic, metallic ink, and marker on canvas (with augmented reality animation) 2025

‘In Hoc Signo Vinces’ (In This Sign Thou Shall Conquer) was the Latin phrase inscribed on a shining cross in the sky that Constantine the Great witnessed. This moment was said to be the catalyst in his conversion as the Roman Empire’s first Christian ruler leading successful conquests during his reign.

Reflecting on the premise of this tale, the giant mechanized butterfly (based on the skeleton of the Magellan’s Birdwing, a species endemic to the Philippines) hovering above the pyramid of the sun is a scene of divine encounter. The butterfly, regarded in several cultures around the world as the ‘lord of nature’, takes on the role of a god in the machine – an ethnofuturistic envisioning of a deity from archaic and pre-colonial folklore merged with the modern. Inspired by imagery in Asian and Mesoamerican heritage, the artwork is seemingly a passing of ancestral legacies, traditions, morals, and dreams with cultural pride. And in the form of a deity, is a manifestation of guidance and encouragement.

It was the artist’s curiosity of a parallel timeline where the colonized prevailed over their colonizer and bringing ancient fragments into the fantastical, distant-future, that paved way for the creation of this piece. These ideas of ‘what-ifs’ are brought about by the post-colonial struggle of continuous defining and redefining of a collective identity among those once under Spanish rule. The butterfly’s robotic form embodies the radical shift in beliefs and behaviors from indigenous folk religions to Christianity. And now, there faces yet another shift from spirituality to the increasing reliance on technology.

Like empires throughout history that have risen and fallen out of their conquest, this artwork ultimately depicts extreme ambition, change, adaptability, and the resilience taken in both an individual’s and society’s journey to rise and forge on.

Exhibited in Art Fair Philippines 2025 Humanity Shared by TLYR Collective Feb 21-23, 2025 Ayala Triangle, Makati, Philippines