Photos and text by: Sonny Yabao Playing tourist in this modern city is no big deal. In an age when everybody takes pictures with a cellphone, you no longer stand out in a crowd even with a big SLR around your neck. Only a sleepy dog lazing in the sun on the pavement would dare…
Text by: Chris Quintana Inside the white room, framed square iron sheets hang, bearing in tangible perpetuity the artist's attempt to make sense of the world—faces and shapes from the shadows inked in black surface from the bare white void. Photographer Veejay Villafranca opened his latest exhibition "IRONIC" on July 15, 2015 at Pineapple Lab,…
The Alternative brings together four stories and image collections from this year’s Lenten observance. We explore the country’s rich culture and tradition, a mix of Roman Catholicism and Pre-Hispanic beliefs, and their continuing relevance to today’s society. Dax Simbol documents the Magdarame, women mourners in Capas, Tarlac. Kimmy Baraoidan continues to follow the men of…
Text and photos by: Dax Simbol Erlinda Asuncion, 65 years old, starts her day sitting in her backyard with mounds of clay beside her. She takes clumps of the moist earth and skillfully molds them into round masses to be formed later into pots and pot covers, shadows slowly moving down from her face to…
Text and photos by: Bart Manoguid Considered as one of the largest gathering in a religious event, the last mass of Pope Francis during his 5-day papal visit to the Philippines was attended by 6 million Catholics. It was raining the whole day, but it did not stop people from wanting to see the Pope…
Text and photos by: Sonny Yabao It was only when we pitched our tent and cooked dinner and opened a bottle of brandy did we hear singing voices with the familiar electronic sound in the background a few meters away. It’s paradise lost again, I thought. But then our loud conversations did seem to drown…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan An LED sign screams the word “Tattoo” from a window on the second floor of a small building next to a church. The building’s ground floor houses a small eatery full of employees from the mall across during lunchtime. The smell of freshly baked bread and…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana Summer is coming to a close, yet the heat is still unforgiving in the small town of Los Baños, Laguna. The trees are at a standstill, so still that not even a light breeze is blowing. The sticky, heavy air makes moving such a chore. Then, out…