Reading Photographs

- .ph Atelier 2026

Accessibility and authorship.
That was the thread I kept returning to after the three Atelier talks.
Who has the story?
Who gets to tell it?
And how does it get told?

Off the Court made me think about access. About female sports photographers struggling to get passes. About athletes relying on photographers to hold their stories of victory and defeat. About sports photography beyond the spectacle. The creative direction of .room ties it all together with how the PH brand of basketball feels close to our lived experience: A community powering forward through thick and thin.

Post-War Visions, ‘s deep dive into postwar Filipina photographers, is a research I have been eagerly following. It has grown to not just be about the photographers, it also became about the custodians of memory. About archives, care, and what survives. In the absence of a substantial body of work, what remains is resonance. The way these women’s presence rippled through the lives of the people they photographed, as remembered by those who kept their stories alive. It reminded me of photography’s democracy and its ability to reverberate even when images are lacking. Cheers to you sister Socorro and Ms. “Smile” Perla 📸 Hope we find more of you and your contemporaries.

During the Imagining the Filipino Spirit panel, one question stayed with me: How do we imagine the Filipino spirit when the body itself is starving?
I find myself returning to Alice Guillermo and social realism, I had to stop myself from spiraling as I see connections and new ideas using it as a framework in looking into human interest photography.

So I ask again.
Who has the story?
Who gets to tell it?
How does it get told?
Photography is deceptive in its simplicity, and complicated in what it carries.
Let me “art walk” this off for now but as always, the conversation continues.
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Check this talk out of the day by the P*P and Michelle Meñez:
“How Photography Reframes the Circular Economy”

A reflection on how photojournalism shapes what becomes visible, valued, and remembered.

Drawing from nearly a decade of working across circular economy practice, environmental storytelling, and the built environment.

Centro de Turismo, Intramuros
February 7, 2026 | 10:00–11:00 AM

If you’re interested in how art, photography, and sustainability intersect and how they help us imagine the future.

Pre-register here: https://lnkd.in/gAPuTnnj
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