Artist Statement

My current work uses self-portraiture to interrogate my gender dysphoria while negotiating my relationship with the landscapes that raised me. In CAVITENA, I photographed myself using a delayed shutter and tripod, working alone and sometimes with the help of my younger brother, within our backyard as well as the rural landscape of our barrio in Cavite where I grew up. The process allows me to construct images at my own pace while negotiating the distance between how I experience myself and how I am seen. I approach body and land as interconnected sites carrying the legacies of colonialism, class inequality, and the intertwined forces of religion, misogyny, and transphobia. Through photography, I explore how these forces shape the ways we understand ourselves. I ask how photography can hold histories and experiences that have long remained outside its frame.

My practice is informed by photography's history of deciding who gets to be seen and who gets to make images. Rather than chasing the decisive moment, I am drawn to more reflective ways of working. I work across analog and digital photography and experiment with alternative processes that extend the medium into printmaking and object-making.

I began photography as a hobby in 2024, following a devastating breakup. At the time, making photographs became a way of distracting myself from the pain and rebuilding a sense of self. What began as a way of coping gradually became a more intentional practice. I started self-studying contemporary photography by browsing internet sites dedicated to photography. I became interested in how photographers use the medium to explore identity and personal experience.

I grew up in a low-income household in a rural village, and this continues to shape the way I make work. I currently work as a rank-and-file office worker and develop my projects during my free time, without substantial financial or institutional support. I often work with materials that are available to me, finding ways to make photographs and objects within these limitations. These conditions have become part of how I understand my practice.

In 2026, I attended the Angkor Photo Workshops in Siem Reap, Cambodia. There, I worked with mentors including Magnum photographer Antoine d'Agata and British Journal of Photography Ones to Watch artist Uma Bista. Their encouragement gave me the confidence to take my practice more seriously and continue developing my own visual language. I hope to pursue an MFA in the future and have the opportunity to devote more time and resources to developing my practice.

Send a Message