Our Islands 11°16'58.4″N 123°45′07.0"E

Martha Atienza’s artistic practice is rooted in her personal connections to the sea, creating moving images and installations that explore issues of labour, migration, environmental degradation, and identity.  Central to her work is the engagement with her own community on Bantayan Island, Philippines, using art as a means of empowerment and advocacy.

Our Islands 11°16'58.4”N 123°45'07.0”E, 2017 films compression divers performing an underwater version of a religious procession. Breathing from thin tubes, the participants move across the screen dressed in costumes that reflect familiar figures in Philippine culture and contemporary society: the Infant Jesus, the crucified Christ, an angel, the boxer Manny Pacquiao, a nurse, a drug lord, a survivor of the devastating Typhoon Yolanda. As the procession loops repeatedly across the screen, the barren seabed also reveals the extent of the environmental damage in these waters.

As in all other religious processions, this performative act expands the environment of the sacred into a secular space, becoming an invocation for the waters’ protection and blessing. It is an act that celebrates the Filipinos’ shared identity, history, and culture, even as it contemplates the archipelago’s uncertain future.