Our river, a phoenix

The Pasig River is the city’s blood, and its state of health is always a reflection of ours. So long as it remains unclean, we too are dirty, polluted and corrupted. Great strides have been made to reverse the decay; Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig Foundation has been rehabilitating the river through implementing Clean River Zones where waste is recovered and converted to income-generating products. The art world has joined the cause, with Manila Contemporary and Silverlens galleries organizing awareness and fundraising events for KBPIP.

Frankie Callaghan, a photographer known for his eerie night visions of the urban landscape, will be exhibiting River of Our Dreams, a 15-photograph story of the Pasig River as he rediscovered it on the ferry. His first impressions were that the river was surprisingly clean, with no floating trash and no stink, unless it was closer to the sea. Another impression was its wasteland-like quality. “It seemed like a forgotten river,” he says. “Huge abandoned warehouses and overgrown lots. Factories. The backs of buildings. Squatter areas. Not much access to the river banks.”

After scouting the area, Callaghan came back at night, trying to stay under the radar with his old, now pretty beaten up car trying to find places where he could get to the river banks. “I found myself climbing over a few fences, or negotiating with drunken foremen to get in,” he says. “Once I actually started getting to the places I wanted to shoot, I found some pretty strange and beautiful places. The Pasig is really quiet at night, with a passing boat every half hour or so.” A few times, he stayed up until sunrise.

The pictures do not document the clean up efforts. nor do they specifically highlight the problems that need to be solved. What they do is make you see the river anew, indeed in a literally different light. In the still moments of early hours, the river’s surface is smooth and glassy, with colors changing from end to end with reflections of packed shanties and distant skyscrapers in the brightening sky. This is our great river in its moment of becoming.

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River of Our Dreams will be on exhibit from Oct. 3 to 24 at Manila Contemporary, Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati. Part of the proceeds from the sales will go to KBPIP.