I met Ambaleng Ausalin by chance at a bus stop in Basilan while waiting for the bus that would take us from Lamitan to Isabela. She pointed at me and asked what my name was. I told her it was Gabby. She replied, “Gabby? Ako si Sharon.” We both laughed hard.

That simple exchange broke the ice, and a conversation in broken Tagalog ensued about very mundane but amusing things.

My friend Earl, a local Yakan who worked for the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), told me that she was a highly regarded weaver and made the formal introductions. I asked if I could take her photo, and she obliged.

Ten months later, I learned that the very animated and quite funny woman I had randomly come across was awarded the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan distinction for Yakan tennun weaving.

#ProjectLarawan.

Profiles of the Filipino. One portrait at a time.

Project Larawan is an initiative of Gabriel “Gabby” Malvar, a documentary filmmaker, writer and photographer, whose narratives

are nuanced with unique, inventive perspectives to provoke an inquisitive look at his favorite subject, the Philippines.

Become a part of Filipino identity every other Saturday on the DAILY TRIBUNE.