Through their creation stories, the Talaandigs express their role as caretakers and stewards of the earth. Their customary art forms include weaving, dance, and music, and more recently, innovating by painting on canvas with ochres. Chong Tecson is a painter and instrument maker. His Kudlong is a reinterpretation of the boat lute, a type of stringed instrument crafted by various Indigenous and Muslim communities in Mindanao. While each community gives the instrument distinct characteristics, from incising, carving and embellishing, the boat lute is consistently recognised for its elongated neck and boat-shaped body, as well as its two strings. One string sounds a single continuous note, and the other plays the melody. In this Kudlong, Tecson reimagines the traditional form by carving a lizard motif, one that is more frequently seen in textiles.

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