Tag:photography
In Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi, photographer Jacob Maentz shoots the geometrical patterns and colors of a Tepo, a mat made from pandan leaves, as well as the Sama-Bajau who diligently weaves it. Photography is a powerful medium. People are drawn to visual things. A good image can tell meaningful and in-depth stories and evoke a response.
I arrived into Iloilo City on a sunny afternoon with my camera bag and a rough plan as to where I would be going. My research gave me some promising leads, but going on a trip like this is always full of unknowns and surprises. Throughout the past four years I have spent a good amount of time traveling around the Philippine archipelago visiting and learning about different indigenous communities. Project Katutubong Filipino is a long term personal project I […]
Earlier this month I spent a week getting to know and learn more about the Mansaka people who live in and around Compostela Valley, Mindanao. The Mansaka are just one of a number of indigenous groups living in Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte, but they are the most numerous in the area. I had the kind privileged to spend time with a number of Mansaka families, witnessing life as it is today, both in their more traditional rural communities […]
After many months of preparation we can finally announce the details of our first photography exhibition this coming January in Manila. We are very excited for the event and hope that everyone interested in the project from the Metro Manila area will come join us. Please help us spread the word so we will have a good showing and continue to get our message out. You can also join the event page we created on Facebook as a way to […]
Last month I made a long awaited trip to the island of Mindoro to visit some of the different Mangyan groups there. This trip took a few months to arrange and I was very excited our journey happened as I have been wanting to visit Mindoro for a long time. Although, we knew it would not be easy to get access to the different communities we wanted to visit, our contacts and non-stop effort explaining and promoting the Katutubong Filipino […]
Over the past month I have made two separate trips to Mindanao in the hopes to document the ethnic sport of horse fighting that is still occasionally practiced by the areas Lumads (indigenous peoples). My first trip was during Davao’s Kadayawan Festival, which is an annual week long celebration featuring the different tribes from Davao. This festival is like most other festivals in the Philippines, complete with street dancing, beauty pageants and plenty of people walking around the streets. In […]
Things often do not turn out the way you might expect them to. Such was the case during my recent trip back to the Sierra Madres. I returned to a part of Isabela and Cagayan provinces to visit some old Agta friends from last year. Upon returning this time I had a plan to go on a hunt with some of the men, a hunt for wild pig, deer or monkey. These are game items that the Agta still hunt […]
Discovery Channel Magazine is running a 12 page photo story about Jacob’s trip to Isabela last year in this August 2012 issue. This trip is where the start of the Katutubong Filipino Project happened. The article also mentions the Katutubo Project which we are very excited about. If you are in Asia, New Zealand, or Australia you can pick up a copy at your local newsstand.
A year after our first visit to this Agta community in a remote part of the Sierra Madres, we returned with photos. The community was so excited to see their photos and it certainly was a highlight of this visit. It’s moments like this that make this project more fulfilling, seeing the different communities react positively to what we are doing. (Video taken with iPod). Agta Community Looking at their photos from Jacob Maentz on Vimeo.
The Bukidnon plateau is home to seven of the 18 different indigenous groups found in Mindanao. After doing some research I decided it would be a great place to visit for starting the Katutubong Filipino Project. Although our travel to Bukidnon was fairly short we learned a lot about the Lumad people (the Visayan word collectively used for all indigenous people in Mindanao). We spent most of the week with a Manobo community high in the mountains of San Fernando […]