Irineo Miranda’s Ethnographic Portrait of Nina Rasul and the Philippine Bangsamoro

Irineo Miranda’s 1951 portrait Tausug Princess, depicting Santanina “Nina” Rasul, is among the few works at the National Museum (NM) portraying Islamic subjects. This study situates the portrait within the broader context of modernist portraiture’s role in constructing an aspirational Islamic femininity while interpreting it as an allegory of Muslim Mindanao’s contested assimilation into the nation-state. Examining Miranda’s ethnographic portrayals of Marawi City, I argue that his conflation of Mindanao ethnicities and the singular inclusion of Tausug Princess to represent Islamic identity at the NM parallel the state’s efforts to integrate and/or marginalize Sulu within the Bangsamoro framework.