Tapan’s eye on the soul of the Philippines

Today, everyone can take a photograph with their handheld phone. Our overwhelming digital world gives us all access to tools and applications for everyone to point and shoot. With my museum curator hat, I am always in the lookout for the next exhibition to mount. Art photography is one with less institutional support and market value when compared to painting and sculpture. But because of the digital revolution, photography has gained ground through digital platforms, independent exhibits and international festivals.

To differentiate the amateur from the pro nowadays is getting harder to do because I look for the soul and expression that the photographer is aiming to express. I guess this has always been my thing — that one can have one beautiful photo by accident,but to come up with a consistent body of works that reflects a person’s vision or his/her soul, through time, is what differentiates the real artist or photographer from the mundane anyone. This is the same principle for all art forms, either visual or written.

Often, there are lingering biases that sometimes relegate photography to a documentary rather than an artistic status. Yet for the past decades, photography has been gaining respect as a powerful artform. It is a vibrant and evolving medium recognized for capturing social realities, identity and cultural narratives.

So, when I thought of one photographer to highlight for an initial show, I had only a couple of names on my list, for purely biased reasons: that I knew them, that I have worked with them in the past through a book or project, and that they are masters in their art.

As serendipity would have it, one night while mindlessly scrolling online, I saw a post of an old friend. I reached out to him only to find out it was his 50th year of being a photographer. What perfect synchronicity! And like my usual working manner of going fourth gear, we were up and running. It was also a pleasant surprise that he was celebrating his 76th birthday once we finished setting up the exhibit.

Multi-awarded photographer George Tapan is a pillar of Philippine photography. For over half a century, he has cultivated a vast body of work that is all about Filipino culture and community, land and rituals. Since taking his first photograph in his home province of Quezon, Tapan has received numerous recognitions in the Philippines and abroad, earning him the title “master travel photographer.”

With over 15 photography books housing his work, George is one of the photographers who set the trend for tourism, environmental photography plus special emphasis on images of indigenous culture. I worked with George for the coffee table book The Landscape Architecture of National Artist Ildefonso P. Santos. And he was one of the easiest people to work with because of his humility.

His images (and in other books of his) are visual compilations of landscapes long gone, moments in cultural rituals difficult to capture. He has managed to keep them timeless by documenting our changing landscape, people and culture.

What I have also always appreciated about George is his touch with the common people. In his forays for the past half century all around our country, he would create projects of teaching indigenous youth to take photographs and document their own culture, from their eyes. This was how he pushed the continuing need to document a living culture through visual narratives – to preserve it from within. His steadfast advocacy to sharing this expertise with the youth and indigenous groups is deeply felt in countless workshops around the country. And because of this, the indigenous peoples would bring him deep into their lives and land as seen by some really remarkable and unique so-hard-to-capture, once-in-a-lifetime moments now translated as iconic Tapan image. This speaks of unwavering commitment — from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi and across the globe, Tapan’s timeless images are hallmarks of our evolving land and culture.

But this exhibit gives him a chance to highlight what he says are his “art photos” and unique stories behind each photo. A real storyteller and teacher at heart, he explains and recounts the moments of each photo taken, each technique or physical challenge he had to just capture that shot.

And we took down all of these stories as part of the exhibit. What makes him more excited are the talks he wants to give at the museum for people to learn photography. So yes anyone now will be able to learn from the master up close and personal in the photography talks and techniques he will be giving in four Saturday talks. Each talk is tailored for different audiences, students, hobbyists, professionals, too. The Tapan photo exhibit reflects his love for the land and our people in all the rawness and unique beauty. It’s a wonderful exhibit, if I must say so myself!

(George Tapan, 50 Years Through His Lenses is on exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum at the RCB Plaza in Makati until mid-October. Call 889-1234 for more information or visit Instagram and Facebook

@yuchengcomuseum).