Philippine Constabulary Sequence (Francisco)

Philippine Constabulary Sequence, (2023) is a photographic series by Kiri Dalena based on her research into colonial photographs of the  Philippines from the private collection of Dean Worcester, who served as the Secretary of the Interior during the American colonial period, in the archives of the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, Germany.

Each sequence involves two unaltered archival images set as bookends, which are layered and digitally manipulated chronologically.  Dalena was particularly drawn to the before and after photographs of the many Bontoc Igorot warriors who were recruited into the Philippine Constabulary, the predecessor of today’s Philippine National Police. The work draws historical links between Filipino soldiers who fought on the side of the American military against the remaining insurgents of the Philippine Revolutionary Army in 1901, and the mercenary members of present-day security forces who have justified the use of excessive violence and brutal tactics against their fellow countrymen in recent counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency operations.

For Dalena, Worcester’s images represent the violent erasure of a republic justified as a benevolent, civilizing endeavor by America and her research is thus an attempt to reclaim the way Filipinos have been represented in the past, to recalibrate the understanding of this history, and to reimagine archives as sites of resistance.