A riverine tributary in one of the mangrove areas of Busuanga Island. This is part of a series of black and white landscape images that will be exhibited.

My series of black and white aerial landscapes will be in a unique exhibition on the environment today at SM North Cyberzone. Part of Tribe’s Earth and Art event, one of Net 25′s infotainment shows, I’m one of the featured artist/photographer where our works and corresponding videos will be featured in a series of flat screen televisions which the organizers dub as a transmedia exploration.

Launching will be at 1800H and will be up until tomorrow only.

Busuanga: From Forests to Farmlands

Forests once covered over 90% of the Philippines and today, after decades of logging, slash and burn farming, development and a population of more than 90 million has left us with a mere 7% forest cover or even less. Where once verdant greenery abound, thick with massive stands of trees, these lungs of the earth have been replaced with grasslands, fields, housing and industry.

This is a sad development considering that we are in the midst of a worldwide, human induced global warming that is already affecting weather patterns and with it, climate change making an impact on our food security and threatening our way of living.

As a photographer, there is a sense of urgency to show what we have and what we are losing. Through my images, I have the responsibility to make people aware of what we are doing to the environment that even if we are not directly razing these forests, our lifestyle and consumerist habits are contributing to its demise.

Busuanga: From Forests to Farmlands is a series of aerial images showing the varied landscape of one of the bigger islands that comprise the Calamianes Group in northern Palawan. As one surveys it’s topography, there is an alarming transition from forests to fields: patches of clearing amidst greenery, logged hills, roads scarring the land and an encroaching irrigated field for a rice paddy.

Through these work, the photographer hopes people will realize that even in remote areas in the country, as distant as Busuanga, deforestation is ongoing. What’s more with the bigger islands where majority of the Philippine population is thriving?

Exhibition dates: 23-24 February 2010
Where: 4/F SM North Cyberzone

Below is the Youtube version of the digital video exhibit

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