At the onset of the lockdown, photographer Terence Angsioco traded his life in Poblacion to escape to Palwan . In living with the Tagbanua people of Coron, he found a newfound freedom in living in tune with nature and has since called the island home.
Exhibit 95 is set to present “An Homage to the Love of Nature and Culture, from the Peaks of the Mountains to the Depths of the Sea,” an exhibit that showcases the works of Terence Angsioco alongside those of Susan Larsson. Exhibit95 is a platform dedicated to featuring creatives and advocates of local communities, sustainability, and marine life, providing a space to share their work and spark conversations about their unique perspectives on nature and culture. Curated by Marinela Drew, the exhibit is the first of a four-part series, aiming to merge creativity and environmental advocacy to inspire meaningful change. The succeeding exhibits are slated quarterly until April 2025.
The exhibit debuts on July 27, 2024, at The Astbury in Poblacion, Makati City, and will be open for viewing for three months.
“If you want to capture something authentic, it should start from you.” We sat down with Terence Angsioco to discuss his upcoming exhibit and the inspirations behind his work.
GRID: What influences shape your approach to your work? Terence Angsioco: The more that I shoot, the more people I meet, and the more places I go to tell their stories, the more I learn about the world that I think I could have never learned if [not for] this career. So what fuels my creativity is being able to connect with different people and their different stories. It's never the same, it's never the same person or the same background, like [the cliche of] getting to know the world behind what we see on TV and in books.
I'm grateful for [the knowledge] I'm receiving. So in return, I also want to capture, to photograph the best that I can. Understanding the project, why you're there, why you're capturing this, why these people need help — that’s also the responsibility of a photographer or a storyteller. If you understand their story, you’ll have more compassion [when] you’re composing a shot, depending on the purpose of what you’re taking.
GRID: One such connection you've made came from living with the Tagbanua, how has your time with them shaped your perspective? Terence: When you travel, you get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly, right? I learn from what people are doing in other places or other islands. When I first moved to Palawan, when I lived with the Tagbanua for two months, that's when I learned how we can have everything with [so little] — compared to the city, where it's commercialized and every move that you make there's an equivalent of money. With the Tagbanua, [they’re] purely relying on nature, like something as simple as fishing everyday. That was the wake-up call for me, how we’re not aligned with nature when we're in the city where everything's in an assembly line and we're just a part of that.
In [past] assignments, I used to do shoots with indigenous peoples, farmers, and fishermen but because we only had, say, three days to capture the story, it wasn’t enough for me to be able to connect with them. Because it's a job, right? You have to cover the story, unfortunately, even though you want to spend time with them.
Then I experienced being with the Tagbanua — [which] at first was an accident, like I [went there] to spend the lockdown not knowing that it would extend, I knew that there was a story but it wasn't pre-determined — I was just there to document what I see. It sparked my curiosity about our history, the Philippines before Magellan even “discovered” the Philippines, I wanted to know where we came from, to learn [and have a] deeper understanding, to meet the original settlers here.
Living with the Tagbanua changed my life, to be able to witness that, to immerse myself, and to connect with them. Not having the pressure to capture a moment or have a shot list, but be able to understand our history — and it's not just that. It's them, it's our present too, right?
GRID: Is there a specific photograph of yours in the exhibit that holds particular significance to you? Why? Terence: That spearfisher shot of mine wasn’t planned. We were talking when one of the family members went fishing. It was sunset, so the light was perfect. I asked him, ‘Kuya Robert, can you stand here?’ I took so many photos but I think that one represented everything [in terms of my stay], like the person, him holding a speargun [half-submerged], and then you see the beauty of the island.
I learned that if you want to capture something authentic, it should start from you. We can never reach for [authenticity] if we, ourselves, are not going through that process. And it's also the respect, of give and take.
Before, when I get an assignment, it was only me, literally taking photos, not being able to understand what I was taking. Or, when I was taking their portraits, was that a form of giving? In my younger years, I thought that it was a privilege for them for [their photo to be taken], but now I understand it's a privilege for me to take these photos. I hope I’m doing my best as a photographer to be aware of that, to do the best that I can to be able to give something of meaning to them.
GRID: Since moving to the island during lockdown, how has living in Palawan influenced your approach to documenting stories about sustainability and the environment? What does the advocacy mean to you, now? Terence: Being able to document all these stories of people who are doing so [much for] the environment, I became aware of [how] different it is when you hear the problems on the news or when you read about it. It's so different when you're witnessing these amazing people doing something to solve an issue.
When I started living in Palawan, I started to see how a majority of the people rely on nature as their main source of income. So of course, you have fishermen and farmers that are directly getting raw materials from nature, but even the establishments — businesses like hotels, F&B, and tour companies. So in the end, it's still nature that brings in tourism. I used to think that if something is commercial or for tourism, it damages natural resources. But then I became friends with [people] who are doing business in a sustainable manner, maybe not 100%, but these people are the ones that are helping NGOs, providing their boats [and tanks] for cleanups, research, collecting crown of thorns, or protecting turtles and manta rays. So for me, those are the things that inspire me to do what I do and be able to see the balance that it’s not always black and white.
GRID: In what ways do you think photography can contribute to the preservation of nature and cultural heritage? Terence: The environment is such a big undertaking, you don’t know where to start if you’re solving the world’s problems, so you start where you can. Tell the story that is accessible to you. You don't have to go to an exotic location, and capture the last of something — and yeah, it is weird coming from me because that's exactly what I did during lockdown but it didn’t happen overnight, right? That wasn't the first passion project that I did.
Before I went [to Palawan], I promised myself that my company would do stories [about giving back to the community, the environment] every month. Like, Mad Travel and their reforestation in Zambales, working with the Aeta community — that was my first story, and I wasn't even into filmmaking at the time. And then there was a coffee shop called Julian's Coffee, [they used to be] in Poblacion and their staff were all from the deaf and mute community. […] Those were the first projects that I did in the year 2020, and prior to that, I was working with pro bono projects that needed documentation of things like beach clean-ups or court evidence.
It’s good because you don't want to take in a big project right away, you learn from all the smaller ones. Someone from an NGO that I was working with told me that the most important part of what they do is to be able to pass on their knowledge. Especially when they work with indigenous communities, one of the most important things is when they can help them be independent, so that in the future, the local community will not need them anymore.
I met this guy in Palawan accidentally [who gave me a ride on his motorcycle when I had problems with my bike] —or I know it's not coincidence, it's also part destiny — of all the people that would help me, it's this guy who was interested in photography. It was my plan to teach photography on the island, like Katherine Jack. She's more of the photographer who plans and I look up to her for being able to do that when I'm such a get-up-and-go photographer. So instead of doing this grand plan to be able to share my knowledge about storytelling and the technicalities of photography, I had this opportunity with this kid, [an island boy] who wants to learn. And it's not theory, it's not an exercise, it's practical shoots. Maybe I can just help him first, one kid at a time.
Photographers interested in participating in the succeeding exhibits, as well as visitors looking to RSVP for the opening reception, can do so here . Follow Exhibit95 on Instagram for updates and additional information.
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This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
