Every year, millions of people migrate to the megacity of Manila from rural regions in search of employment and educational opportunities. In the context of increasing urban density, many urban poor are forced into improvised shelters, especially along the shores of the Pasig River and Bay of Manila near the busy ports. More than 650,000 live along the shore in the Tondo district alone, subject to dirty living conditions, poor healthcare, and a lack of access to education. Compounded with jury-rigged electrical systems and open flames, these places are subject to intense fires which, although very destructive, are not often fatal because of the population’s proximity to water.

In the exhibition Attached, Carberry-based artist Clemente Villamayor (aka Tengnamoe) explores, honours, and memorializes the people that make up these neighbourhoods, tethered tenuously to the edge of the water, built from recycled materials, repurposed and resilient. He sees parallels to his own profound attachment to his homeland of the Philippines and his own love of discarded materials. Engineering model-sized structures from found objects and using industrial material like press board and spray paint, Villamayor creates ties to work and life at the boundaries.

Sources: Philippine Statistics Authority 2018; “Inferno destroys thousands of shanties in Manila’s biggest slum area,” CNN, November 25, 2024.