It is quiet in the confession booth, except perhaps for the whispers of sinners seeking salvation from strangers in white robes. Men and women, thieves, vagabonds, adulterers, lonely mistresses — sinners they all are — will kneel and confess their acts before they do it all again, in another time, another day.
There is a soldier, slumped on his back, perhaps dead or
dying, perhaps wounded or too weak to stand. His gun-wielding comrades are by
his side. They are in the middle of a battle, or the war has just begun. All
are fighting for their lives.
In a place named Tacloban, after the world came to an end
when
Super Typhoon Haiyan struck,
a man stands in the middle of the chaos. He has almost nothing, no shirt, no
bags, no home; just a black rosary he wears around his neck.
This is faith, held deeply by nearly every man, woman and
child in this predominantly Catholic country of 100 million people. There is
sometimes no rationality or reason but faith, nevertheless, serves its epistemic
function here in this country where more than 25 million Filipinos are mired in
deep poverty. It is an end to contradictions or at the center of ironies.
Faith is expressed in many ways and the differences are
stark and telling. The ways are varied, as they are endless.
And the different ways by which Filipinos hold on to their
faith are vividly captured in a collection of images by five Filipino
photojournalists: Jose Enrique Soriano, Veejay Villafranca, Jake Verzosa, Carlo
Gabuco, and Jes Aznar.
The result is Pananampalataya --the Filipino word for faith
-- an exhibition, which is part of the inaugural PhotoBangkok Festival,
an ongoing international photography festival in Bangkok, Thailand.
Pananampalataya is presented by AsianEye Gallery, an online gallery that
aims to raise the profile of veteran and emerging Asian photographers and to
encourage collectors from all over the world to discover and appreciate their
vision and works.
“Any simple attempt at describing the belief systems native
to a Filipino is likely to be inadequate. The Filipino photographer is unique
when juxtaposed with the rest of his Asian and Western counterparts. The artist
comes from an archipelago composed of 7,107 islands in Southeast Asia, and is
greatly influenced by the country’s history of popular struggles. One
unparalleled historical factor which explains the distinctiveness of the
Philippines in Asia, is its prolonged history under direct colonial domination.
Colonialism in the Philippines began in the sixteenth century, as in Latin
America – 300 years earlier than most Asian countries. The worldview of
Filipinos reflects a strong Hispanic and Christianized influence, with the
Catholic Church contributing to this. The Filipino is the fruit of this
integration. And what is integral in this integration is the faith
(pananampalataya) of its people - a faith in a force (tadhana) that determines
the destiny of its people,” according to the exhibition notes.
Pia Artadi, the Filipina behind AsianEye, says she wanted to
show the world the unique talent of Filipino photographers.
“I wanted to portray how strong the work of Filipino
photographers are and unique all over the world,” Artadi says.
On the subject of faith, Artadi says its universality
remains profound and that she wanted to share Filipinos’ practice of faith to a
wider audience that in the process, they may find a common ground.
She says the gallery is proud to be part of the inaugural
Photo Bangkok Festival.
Piyatat Hemmatat, director of PhotoBangkok 2015 said the
festival, which would go on for two months, aims to elevate the development of
the creative community through the next generations.
“As we believe that our country is full of passionate
creative artists with promising photographic capability and potential, it is
inevitably now that all concerned parties come together to work hand in hand in
creating an integrated platform that leads the works of Thailand’s photographers
to an international stage,” he said.
