Once something is captured, it has already acquired meaning and story depending on the eyes looking at it.
Get a picture. Ask five people to interpret it. Do you get the same interpretation from each person?
See? A picture could tell countless stories. And these stories we see tell us how we view the world and our journey in this lifetime as each day passes.
On the first week of January this year, I did a photo walk in Quiapo. I just captured what for me appeared interesting. Upon going home, I took glances at my captured images and examined them one by one. I had to scroll some pictures back for they were telling me things I didn’t see before.
What was Quiapo then for me?
Back in college, I was almost stabbed in a holdup twice in Quiapo. While the memory of this tragic event is still fresh, a phone, which I just borrowed from my brother was snatched also in the same place. No one can blame me if I consider it as a constant reminder that Manila is chaotic and a hopeless case.
Horrible encounters. This is what always comes into my mind when there is a mention of Quiapo. But why did this simple photo walk seem to be changing my perception about Quiapo? I knew my heart was clouded by animosity toward it. But what do these photos reveal which I haven’t seen before?
Quiapo church is one of the famous churches in the Philippines and the most populated in Metro Manila. Its prominence could be attributed to the Black Nazarene or Poon Nazareno. Every 9th of January, devotees of Black Nazarene gather along the streets of Manila to express their perpetual faith and fulfill their yearly vows which would last for more than 12 hours of procession. The “Maroon Day,” as I label it, is one of the most renowned feasts in the world. Devotees would walk barefoot and crawl at the bodies of sea of people just to get to the replica and have their handkerchiefs wiped and touched it. Many believe that Black Nazarene is miraculous.
Black Nazarene
A permit has to be secured first at the administrator’s office before anyone could take photographs inside the church. I was very careful not to disturb people showing their adulation; so I took photos in the most modest way I could.
This person was the first to capture my gaze. It seemed to me that he was sincerely sharing his new experiences to our Almighty Father; how he was coping up from day to day and how life has been treating him good. If most who were inside the church asked for alleviation of their worries, healing of their sorrows and adversities, I found him different. He was there to share good news.
Just beside the grateful man was this person who was in deep pain. I observed atonement while begging for forgiveness in his gestures. He circled around the replica of this life-sized Black Nazarene statue and touched all four corners of the glass that separates him and the replica. It looked like this man was trying to renew his faith to our Creator.
If the first two pictures showed joy and pain, this picture displayed hope. The man carrying a wooden box learned to surrender everything to Him with hopes that someday, he would be able to find a good paying job while the man next to him asked for God’s continuous guidance in order for him to provide his family a decent living.
Outside the church, lives were blaring. People were busy taking each moment worth to earn. They were grappling hard enough to put food into their stomachs.
This man, with his Ipod on, fell asleep while waiting for parishioners to buy cigarettes and candies from him. Maybe he was there all night or maybe he was just waiting to make enough money so he could go home.
I wandered across Plaza Miranda until I got propelled and stirred by this old man. After seeing him sat unaffected by the excruciating heat and positioned himself where church goers usually pass by, I was swiftly jolted by the urge to help him. I tried assisting him to sit, but he refused. So I just dropped a few coins on his plastic bottle. His life would depend on that small plastic bottle with hopes to end his day with his bottle full. Then I suddenly found myself murmuring that old people should be spared from this cruel situation.
When I took a few paces away from the old man, I noticed how some vendors managed to smile despite of their current plights. I was reminded again that Filipinos are really happy people. We learn to laugh off anything bad happening to us.
This old lady shall serve as an inspiration of those who think they are too old to work hard or too young to look for work. Though she was shaded by umbrella and supported by chair, she still would prefer to sell Sampaguita at her age. One good thing about her was she never stopped smiling at people passing her way, thus, making it easy for her to deliver her sales pitch.
If the old lady was situated in front of the Quiapo church, this vendor would roam around the vicinity to sell Sampaguita. Her alacrity later caught me so I ended up buying a bundle and offered it to the Black Nazarene.
Aside from candles, replicas of Christ, Sto. Nino and scapulars, other merchants in Quiapo also offer treatments for illness, which some believe, brought by witch and gnome. Quack doctors and faith healers are pervaded around the area too.
When I was done checking my photos, I began removing the clouds of anger inside and searched for answers to this question: why are these photos speak volumes to me?
Because my photos revealed the concealed realities in Quiapo; that it is more than just a bunch of vindictive individuals. It is also home of dreamers, hopefuls, repenters and grateful. The products of my lenses didn’t lie. People who choose to fight the odds in Quiapo would do everything to make their lives better. Their disposition on perseverance in spite of misfortune is so strong that it couldn’t be broken.
This simple photo walk has taught me lot. New year has just started but I already learned to transform hate into love and to see hope in despair.
DIALOGUE WITH A WANDERER 