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Filipino Artist Poklong Anading's "deep in the shallows, afloat in the depths" opened at Silverlens New York Thursday with much aplomb. It is his US debut after all, and the famous Filipino conceptualist showcased two new works — an installation called 'recruit no. 2' and the accompanying 90-minute video installation 'screen time' — products of his residency in Lubi, Davao del Oro that started in April 2024.
Hanging from the viewing room of Silverlens New York, 'recruit no. 2' is installation that's 86.63" x 32.25" in size. It is made with recovered fishing net, attached seashells, and marine mineral traces.
It is part of the 300-meter net he recovered off the waters of the remote island in Southern Philippines, that was once an agricultural resource and has been turned into a tourist destination. The accompanying video documents not just the artist’s dive, but the discovery, the recovery and possible regeneration.
It’s a much-needed narrative in a world that “may have entered the era of 1.5C warming” and have started to experience the effects of climate change.
“The idea of the residency is to produce an outdoor installation from any materials na mahahanap sa island, or sa community around it during the residency,” Poklong tells GMA News Online on Zoom.
He considered the hammock, made with fishing nets, saying he was interested in how the residents lived on the island, what they did during their breaks, how they spent their “in-between moments.” But the avid diver made who enjoyed Lubi's waters too, chanced upon a an empty plastic package of fish crackers.
And at about a depth of 10 meters, he noticed the net. “Pagkakuha ko nung plastic, medyo malayo na sa shore, nakita ko yung net. Sobrang haba. And because of that napansin ko yung mga fishing net na ginagamit pang bakod na nagiging sanhi din ng basura at pagkasira ng corals,” Poklong said, pointing out the ironic truth: “Yung materials na yun, ginagamit for safekeeping, to have clean waters and for protection,” Poklong adds.
(I was far from the shore when I retrieved the plastic and saw the net. It was so long. And because of that, I noticed the fishing net being used as a fence to keep the waters pristine became trash itself and a reason for the destruction of corals.)
He thought of using the materials he found underwater “to remind what had been damaged beneath because no one would notice it.”
According to a 2024 study published on Elsevier, fishing gear, including nets, account for 10% of marine plastic waste and in the North Pacific Garbage Patch back in 2019, "fishing gear was the most common category of identifiable plastic objects collected.”
Meanwhile the United Nations Environmental Program said "abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing net is the deadliest form of marine plastic, threatening 66% of marine animals including all sea turtle specific and 50% of seabirds."
But upon returning to the waters to fish out the net, Poklong along with the Davao Gulf Divers, a group of volunteer marine biologists and divers, found something interesting. Comparing the 300-meter net to thick mud —"parang lupa na talaga," the artist said — Poklong said they found a community of organisms growing in the net itself. Barnacles, larvae, omni corals, or what divers call "recruits."
"Ginagamit nila yung term na yon for propagation of corals," he explains the word recruit.
They found these recruits proving to be quite resilient of their environment under water. "In a way, they are starting to adapt to the environment," Poklong said.
His 'recruit no. 2' — 'recruit 1' was the prototype, he explains — made from the discarded net he found in the waters off the island, also intends to mimic the site he chanced upon, complete with young corals on the marine waste.
This isn't Poklong’s first time to create art with a slant toward the environment and the climate crisis. In the pandemic, he transformed food packaging into planter pots using cement, which incidentally, is among the top carbon emitters of the world.
According to the artist, the series of works titled "light suffers if there’s no place to fall from and growing sound" is a "commentary about the crisis, but at the same time, it's also something of a coping mechanism."
"Wala naman akong ibang magagawa kundi magkaroon ng impact pa sa ikalalala ng sitwasyon," he said, aware of his impacts to the environment.
Still "afloat in the shallows" echoes of hope. "Na-damage na yung corals, then you'll see may tumutubo. And when I learned na mas resilient pa pala sila, Seeing the next generation, I was thinking like, how, what's the future going to be?"
In talking about his new work, Poklong brings up his fascination for sewage systems. Whenever he’d go on residencies, he would visit the sewage system of the location, a habit he picked up during a 2012 visit to Bangkok.
"In some ways, the sewage system [presents] a record of our activities. It tells you about the place's everyday life," he explains, how that everyday life, how human activities affect our surroundings "from households to canals to the river to the sea."
"Iniisip ko, pagkatapos gamitin, paano siya paano siya bumabalik sa atin, yung cycle," he says, clarifying quickly that “I’m not trying to solve the problem” and that his art isn’t trying to pose as a solution.
“I don't want to put moral on it kasi wala rin ako sa posisyon na magsalita,” he says. "Art will not really solve the problem directly. But it can encourage or invite people to look at it and to reconsider our relationship with our environment and with the sea."
Pokllong adds, “It's simply an eye opener. That's really the only thing I can do.” — GMA Integrated News
'deep in the shallows, afloat in the depths' runs until June 21 in Silverlens New York
