The Exhibit and Monograph
Recalling the images of Philippine indigenous women and men portrayed in National Geographic Magazines in the early 1900’s showed them bare topped and clad in wrap around skirts and loin cloths. Indeed, Itauli, the Kankana-ey word which means “to return” apt for the exhibit mounted at the Museo Kordilyera of the University of the Philippines Baguio, provides a conversation of how pictures can rob one of essence from the photographer’s eyes and lens. The Monograph and exhibit entitled, “Itauli: Reframing Cordillera Women in Photographs”, were launched on July 22, 2024.
Immersion in the Benguet and Kalinga culture and society of two Europeans, Gerry Atkinson of the UK and Dutch Marleen de Korver from 1991-1993, provides a contrast to the seeming distinction between the savage and civilized in the photos taken a century before by male counterparts. The feminist advocates documented the facets of life in the villages with the help of the Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center (CWEARC) and the Women Workers Program (WWP), two non-government organizations focused on women’s rights to continue the discussions on women in their cultural and social milieu in the exhibit.
Punctuated by the prevalent issues covering the communities in the last decade of the 20th century, the “ways of seeing” how cultural formations conditioned the production and reception of the photographs reveal the “architectonics of power”, according to monograph writers, Grace Celeste T. Subido and Ruth M. Tindaan. They take up American photographer Stacy Kranitz’s view that photography can be a way of connecting with others, understanding the self, remembering the past, being present in the moment, and creating intimacy. The so-called oppressive narratives in old photographs are replaced by “creating alternative and emancipatory visions of identity and culture “.
Atkinson said that she noted “communal solidarity, rites, and rituals performed” throughout the women’s lifecycle. Korver said that she was impressed with the women because of their “strength and resilience for their struggle for self-determination”. They documented the womenfolk as they went about their daily lives by “staying in relation” rather than “capturing”, said Subido and Tindaan.
The child carrying a child with a cloth string or blanket called aba or ubba validates her as playing a vital role in the collective fulfillment of family life in the village. There is pride in her gaze through the lens of Korver. Similarly, her picture of four women sluicing for gold expresses women in an industry that is associated with men and participating as partners in the industry. The cover photo of the monograph shows the determination and resolve of the three women, Mrs. Casic, Mrs. Linda Sucag, and Mrs. Elizabeth Busiley, to move a boulder to another location for processing in the extraction of gold.
Atkinson’s images of Benguet, Kalinga, and Ifugao lifeways show a ritual for the transfer of the bones of Enmong’s mother in Itogon, Benguet, an Ifugao woman posing for cash, and a Kalinga baby in an uba or ubba carried by a mother.
A commentary on the iconic tattooist, Apo Whang-od, on the cover of fashion and lifestyle magazine, Vogue, has evoked mixed reactions. Some say it is an achievement for breaking the barriers of age, class, and race, while feminist Delia Aguilar in 2023 disagrees and calls it “egregiously condescending.” The issue of commodification persists because of the various merch on which her indigenous photo is used.
“Photographs are windows to lived worlds,” say Subido and Tindaan. Itauli “urges a return to the continuing conversations that must ensue through time, beyond geographical boundaries, and across cultures to carve out spaces of equity and justice.”
