Bridging worlds through the lens of Eduardo Masferré

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BAGUIO, Philippines – At a gallery in Barcelona, images of the Cordillera’s mountains, rituals and faces now stand in quiet dialogue with Catalonia’s own story of identity. The Philippine Consulate General in Barcelona has opened a photo exhibition honoring Eduardo Masferré, the photographer whose lens captured the spirit of the Philippine highlands and whose life embodied the intertwined histories of the Philippines and Spain.

The exhibit, titled Contempla las imágenes inmortalizadas a través del objetivo de Eduardo Masferré, which opened on October 24 runs until November 21, at the consulate’s gallery on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. It celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Month by showcasing Masferré’s timeless photographs — portraits of Cordillera elders, scenes of rice terraces, rituals and village life — works that have become visual testaments to indigenous dignity and endurance.

“Our family is deeply honored to see Eduardo Masferré’s photographs celebrated in Barcelona. Having been raised in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain always held a special place in his life. His work was a lifelong tribute to the dignity and spirit of the Filipino people, and seeing his images return to the land of his childhood reminds us that art, like love, bridges nations and generations,” the Masferré family said in a message shared with Rappler.

A son of two worlds

Eduardo Masferré (1909-1995) was born in Sagada, Mountain Province, to a Spanish-Catalan father and a Kankanaey mother. His father, Jaime Masferré, had come from Spain as a teacher, while his mother, Mercedes Langkew, was from the uplands of Sagada.

Their union symbolized the convergence of two worlds, and Eduardo grew up between them — educated in Spain, rooted in the Cordillera, and fluent in both cultures’ ways of seeing.

Returning to Sagada in the 1930s, Masferré began photographing his community — not as an outsider but as a son documenting his own people. Over the next two decades, he created a visual chronicle of the Cordillera that would later define ethnographic photography in the Philippines.

His grandson, Albert Masferré, speaking at the exhibit opening, reflected on this interwoven heritage: “What makes tonight even more meaningful is that we are gathered here in Barcelona, the homeland of his father. In many ways, my grandfather’s own life was a bridge between Spain and the Philippines, between past and present, between two cultures that met in him and found expression through his lens. It feels fitting that his story should return here, across generations, to be shared with a new audience.”

Eye of the highlands

From Bontoc to Kalinga, from Ifugao to the remote villages of Abra, Masferré carried his camera with patience and reverence. His portraits — such as the iconic image of Lakay Kabayo, an elder’s face etched with time and pride — captured not just individuals but the collective soul of a people in transition. His landscapes, too, spoke of harmony between human hands and the highland earth: terraces carved like verses, rituals framed by mist.

“Eduardo Masferré was a quiet man,” Albert said, “but through his camera he gave voice to a whole culture. His photographs are not just art; they are memories. They are testimony. They remind us that identity is carried not only in history books, but in the faces, rituals, and landscapes of a people.”

First exhibited in his modest studio in Bontoc, Masferré’s work later reached the Cultural Center of the Philippines and traveled to cities including Copenhagen, Tokyo, and Arles. In 1992, his solo show at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, cemented his place as one of the Philippines’ most significant visual chroniclers. The Smithsonian now holds part of his archive — a rare honor for any Filipino photographer.

Memory and respect

Masferré’s photographs were more than aesthetic achievements; they were anthropological records. His long friendship with American anthropologist Harold Conklin, which began in 1946, reflected a shared mission to document the Cordillera’s material and spiritual culture before modernity reshaped it. Using early photographic methods such as calotype and silver-gelatin printing, Masferré developed his work with meticulous care, treating photography as both art and science.

Through his lens, indigenous life — often misunderstood or marginalized — became visible with dignity. He photographed not for spectacle but for remembrance, leaving an archive that scholars, artists and Cordillerans continue to draw from.

As Albert reminded those in attendance, the legacy of Masferré’s work transcends his own name.

“These images do not only belong to our family. They belong to the Cordillera communities whose lives he captured with respect and intimacy. They belong to the Filipino people. And tonight, in this place, they belong to the wider world.”

Returning home

Three decades after his death, Masferré’s images return to Spain — not as colonial artifacts but as shared heritage. In Barcelona, visitors walk among the faces of Sagada elders and Ifugao farmers, their presence reminding viewers that culture transcends borders.

“I hope that as you walk through this exhibition, you will see more than photographs,” Albert said in closing. “I hope you will feel what my grandfather felt — the strength, resilience, and humanity of the people of the mountains, the Igorot people.”

In these portraits, one sees not just the Philippines or Spain but the enduring human quest for identity, belonging and respect. It stands as a bridge between two histories — and as a tribute to a man who, through his camera, helped the world see the mountains and their people not as distant subjects, but as kin. – Rappler.com

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