Manila Gothic
From 2016 to 2022, the Philippine government under former President Rodrigo Duterte oversaw a well-publicized and gruesome law-and-order campaign against illegal drugs and perceived deviance. The nationwide so-called drug war extrajudicially killed tens of thousands and is currently being investigated by the International Criminal Court. The victims were predominantly impoverished civilians.
“Manila Gothic” was photographed 10 months into the phenomenon focusing on the victims’ families and loved ones dealing with the grief.
I used a forensic DSLR which collected a combination of infrared, ultraviolet and visible light to superficially show the invisible trauma beneath the surface.
The normalcy in Filipino daily life was what felt most disturbing. Filipino society expressed little compassion towards those demonized. There was a gap in empathy.
To personalize the otherworldly visuals, I asked the victims’ loved ones to write letters to the deceased and God offering a human voice to the silence of the images. One survivor of the 2016 Caloocan Massacre, Ryan, contributed three drawings since he was traumatized and could not write at the time.
In 2024, I finally weaved these strands together, overlaying the letters and drawings on top of the images, printing them on cyanotype paper to give the appearance of a fading, sun-bleached poster and a persistent moment caught between fugue and remembrance.
