Photograph, 9.6A360

Photograph | 9.6A360 | Escolta Street - Manila

Charisse Vales

Mapping Manila: From Spectacle to Sentiment Spaces

There’s a special intimacy when cracking open a family photo book. Being a second-generation Filipino American, I’ve grown to treasure the ones that have survived frequent floods and in transport. Branching out of these personal means of museum-making, the Philippine archives at the Burke have also caught my attention in the nuanced ways the Philippines have been remembered in institutions like museums. In relation to my family’s sentiment of home and community, how does this hold up in the photos that do exist and are protected? What does it mean to restore place in stories and protect Filipino culture beyond the work of families themselves?

Courtesy of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. To search the Arts & Cultures collections, please visit our online database here.