This ongoing project searches to explore the Filipino culture through the immediate process of creating objects and structures within a space in the province of Bataan. The garden founded by the Faylona family promotes a respectful attitude towards nature, offering shelter between plants and trees. It forms a proliferating oasis surrounded by dry countryside, that got devastated by industrial and agricultural interests.
BATAAN WORK SERIES
Being half Filipino myself, I felt an increasing need to invest thought and effort into this place, that I know since my childhood. Getting in touch with materials and techniques used by the locals gave me valuable insights into the Filipino way of thinking and problem solving. Those feature a strong sense for improvisation and pragmatism which the circumstances of lacking infrastructure and low budget require. This approach leads to a very particular aesthetic which sometimes might even seem off putting at superficial sight. It rather amazes the more comprehensive observant by the honest authenticity of its underlying intention and its execution driven by positivity and willingness to make things work.
Following pieces aim to showcase the beauty I found myself surrounded by, as I travelled the country, looking out of the open window frames of provincial busses, strolling along roaring streets, filled with pimped up Jeeps and self made Tricycles.
The unexpected combination of contrasting materials can be found in and around the household on an everyday basis. It is characteristic to the appearance of Filipino creations, symbolizing an aspect of the broader culture, that I find to be fundamental.
To me what makes up the essence of modern Filipino culture is the synthesis of polarities. The nation covers of over 7000 islands so it already consisted of a very heterogeneous group of peoples in the first place, but it's centuries of colonial oppression which's impact one now finds most spread and imprinted all over the Philippines. At first there were the Spanish, making an effort in eradicating local traditions, spreading Catholicism which is the main religion nowadays, while some people in more remote places managed to stick to their animistic beliefs. Besides having left their architecture all over the place, the Spaniards influence can also still be found in the Filipino language, which is an interesting topic of its own.
What might be even more striking, though, is the influence that the US Americans had while occupying the place until its independence. This shows it self very well in the so called 'Jeepneys', pimped and spray-painted macho rides, made from the military Jeeps that were left behind as US troops left the country. These were transformed by the Filipino inhabitants, extended, chrome sheeted and since then they serve as public transportation all over the country.
A collection of serendipitous observations that I made during my travels across the country.
The beauty of objects or situations presented in the snapshots, to me, lie in the seemingly unquestioned profanity of their creation, their appearance that does not try to hide its inner thrive to fulfill a purpose in the most immediate manner and sometimes the brutality with wich they got placed within their environment.
Often a hard contrast between growing nature and man made structures can be seen, casually revealing that mankind, as well, carries an aesthetical identity within, that is shaped by human comprehension. In my eyes those pictures encourage humans, not to conceal their need for clear, structured order, as long as they stay in balance with nature and keep themselves surrounded by it. Beyond that they propagate a functional constructivist design approach, that will make a lack of plants and trees much more obvious for everyone to see, as they vanish.