Earth Day plans? This La Union art exhibit is championing Filipino coasts against climate change
Would you dare to follow the water?
This Earth Day 2022, Filipino artists and international photographers are set to collaborate for Follow the Water, an outdoor exhibition to champion the country's rich coastal cultures.
The exhibit is presented by Emerging Islands, a La Union-based art residency aiming to bring the global conversation about art and ecology to one of the country's locations that need solutions: the surf town of San Juan, La Union.
With the Philippines serving as the center of the world’s marine biodiversity and among the most vulnerable countries to climate disasters, the call against the climate crisis has never been more crucial. Thus, the idea of Follow The Water was born.
The exhibition features work from award-winning international artists such as The Banda Journal by Indonesian photographer Muhammad Fadli, Mekong, Mother of Rivers by Singaporean Huiying Ore, and What the Water Gave Us by Singaporean artist Woong Soak Teng.
Works by Filipino photographers will also be heavily featured, among them Langit, Lupa, Impiyerno by Geric Cruz; Pearls, a collaborative work by Archie Geotina and Bren Lopez featuring Ikit Agudo; Cities Made of Water by Nobel Prize photographer Hannah Reyes Morales and Nicola Sebastian; and finally Guardians of the Marsh by National Geographic Explorer and conservation photographer Gab Mejia.
Headlining the exhibition will be the launch of DIP Sea KISS, a new work created by conservation photographer Mandy Barker. The work was made in collaboration with Emerging Islands to raise awareness of the plastic sachets that pollute the oceans.
Barker's work on marine plastic debris and trash collage has also appeared in New York's Museum of Modern Art and London's Tate Museum.
Follow the Water is a dynamic and intimate celebration of the rivers, lakes, and seas that give our communities life, while also illuminating the problems that they face.
It is presented with the "hopes that these stories will help the seaside community of San Juan feels connected to other coastal communities struggling with the climate crisis, and ultimately the global archipelago."
Follow the Water is slated to open on Earth Day, April 22, 2022, in the Flotsam and Jetsam Artist Beach Hostel, San Juan, La Union. Find out more about Emerging Islands through their website.
