What goes around: ILOMOCA displays photos ‘In Circulation’

By John Anthony S. Estolloso

Currently strung across the length of ILOMOCA’s Hulot Gallery are thin, twisted strands of rope, on which are hung a myriad of photos. From a distance, they seem like clothes left to dry on washing lines, and like the quotidian quality of familiar fabric, they assume the appearance of vignettes snatched from life. At the far end of the viewing hall, photographs are crisscrossed with red thread, arranged in angles and forms resembling an evidence board of captured moments. At one section of the display, there are witty notes and quips attached by viewers.

One feels a homely fullness in the jumble of images, colors, and shadows: the exhibit aspires to weave together propositions and narratives, putting together what has passed and the present experience of perusing the past. It loops territories, liminalities, and interstices – what are postured, personal, public, and panoramic are arranged in a thematic variety, linear in a sense yet also layered in depth. They are, as what the exhibit title denotes, ‘In Circulation’.

Displayed are the works of fourteen photographers: Joshua Babas, Oyin Camarines, Paul Frederick Chiongson, Jasper Chinnobleza, Patrick Jamora, Jam Monares, Rizandro Napone, Cheelyn Superal, Babak Niaraki, Steve Quiatchon, Eldred Neal Sollesta, Jose Tolentino, Marcel Tolentino IV, and Arsen Carl Vargas. Put together, their photographs achieve a visual tapestry, eclectic in theme yet overwhelmingly relevant to the human condition.

Exhibit notes writer Erich Marie Mendoza points out the nebulous paradox that the camera lens holds: the act of capturing moments opposes the stillness of time while opening the captured images to interpretations. In this manner, photography becomes an act of resistance. Against the relentlessly unyielding movement of time, the developed film yields a modicum of permanence, not in stasis or in stagnation, but in establishing individual connections and relationships between time and persona.

The diversity of styles and subjects makes for an interesting study of human perception and partialities. Oyin Camarines’ close-up shots reveal details in flora that would have been taken for granted by passersby in any ordinary day. Scenic seascapes and mountain ranges are juxtaposed with birds somberly at rest in the photos of Arsen Carl Vargas. Jose Tolentino’s bright flair for drama and architecture imbues a quaint vibrance contrasting the shades and hues of neighboring shots. Patrick Jamora’s studies on geometries and limited palettes offer a complementary dramatis persona to the visual mix.

Likewise, the human form and face emerge in many of the shots. Portraits by Jasper Chinnobleza, Jam Monares, Babak Niaraki, Steve Quiatchon, and Cheelyn Superal, among others, explore the range of human acts and passions, the drama of ordinariness memorialized by the developed film. There are nudes posed in fluid, sinuous attitudes, provocative yet altogether profound in their nakedness. There are the communal montages replete with the festival vibe of exaggerated expressions and pageantry. There are faces lined with wrinkles and smiles captured in close-up shots, exuding emotions most familiar to the viewer: euphoria, pathos, nostalgia, ennui, sobriety, seduction.

On wooden pedestals spread across the gallery are more of these photos. They are just there, piled in a hodgepodge, inviting the viewer to flip through them, and perhaps, find one to his or her liking. The physicality of contact with the printed material further heightens the experience. As Mendoza eloquently points out, it ‘encourages intimacy and proximity between the viewers and the moments taken amidst this fleeting world.’  Inviting a response from its audience, a part of the installation is festooned with personalized interjections and one-liners, attached by viewers moved to give some sort of riposte to the layers of narratives displayed.

The photographs are still hanging there at Hulot Gallery. If you wish to flow through this sonder stream of consciousness, visit the museum, browse the photos, and immerse into what goes around in circulation.

(The writer is a humanities teacher in one of the private schools of the city.)