Philippine Consulate unveils ‘Tanglaw: Love, Mom’ exhibition

Eleven black-and-white polaroids. Eleven letters – the originals, all handwritten.

“International Mother’s Day” is days passed. At the Rizal Hall of the Philippine Consulate General in Al Qusais, Dubai, though, until June 7, is the “Tanglaw: Love, Mom,” exhibition, long-time conceptualised by a son of a long-time Middle East contract worker.

Jed Bacason, 42, son of Edgar Bacason, among the community leaders in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, before changing address to Abu Dhabi, told Gulf Today, the project “had long been in development, even long before the pandemic.”

“But, it was not until I acquired the Polaroid 1-2 in 2024 that I finally had the right tools to fully realise the concept,” added Jed, whose interest in the magic of the camera, is heavily influenced by the “long-work form” approach of Belgian, British and American photographers Max Pinckers, Alys Tomlinson, and Alec Soth, respectively.

Polaroid 1-2 is an analog camera “for serious photography.”

Thus, “Tanglaw: Love, Mom” which features, Jed’s wife Patty, Ethel Tampon, Patty Baustista, Jodith Lacar, JoMarie Ebita, Ressel Romo, Rojely Salamanca, Rosie Fe, Cyren Placido, Marianne Caoile, and Rosita Gaurino, took several years to incubate.

Jed “takes much time and effort as needed, to complete a body of work, to present a comprehensive in-depth investigation of a specific topic.”

Explained the Mass Communications graduate: “All of my serious work requires thorough research, multiple revisions, and tight editing, and since I am not bound to any deadlines, I am not in a hurry.”

Ahead of the unveiling on May 8, Jed who teaches Photography and Creative Media at a British university, mentioned that the project is a “tribute” to his wife who kept the family going throughout the Novel Coronavirus: “My wife and our 10 friends who have been with us since we arrived here with our daughter in 2013, deserve it.”

The premise: how does a Filipino mother who decides to work overseas and “somebody who lives between two countries is perceived and becomes.”

For, according to the former correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where he honed his writing and photography skills; while mothers “back home” are seen as the 24/7 family and household managers – as some juggle the responsibility with work or career – those abroad become the “voice message, remittance, video call, and promises of being home-bound.”

A check on the Philippine Statistics Authority data, covering 2023 to 2024, disclosed that of the 2.19 million overseas contract workers, 57.2 per cent or 1.25 million were women.

It has always been that way through the decades – women outnumbering the men. It is not unusual too, that majority of the overseas workers originate from the Southern Tagalog Region.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are always the top two labour-receiving countries.

In his entirely Filipino speech, Jed underscored the swelling numbers of overseas Filipinos with no intentions to “romanticise” the phenomenon: “But behind the statistics, are stories of the most difficult decision.

The decision to be physically away.

Not to escape motherhood but to sustain it. We oftentimes see the airports, the balikbayan box, the graduation pictures.”

“But we seldom see the quiet melancholy,” continued Jed.

That the portraits are in “black-and-white” and “simple” because the project is “not about aesthetics.” That all the letters close in “Love, Mom” or its Filipino equivalent, means that even from a distance, “being a mother is not lost.”

In a brief chat with his Dad, Edgar, fondly recalled how Jed never stopped tinkering the “Zenith camera I bought from a group of Afghan refugees in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s.”

Consul General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates Ambrosio Brian Enciso III said that “Tanglaw: Love, Mom” is not only a part of the “Pasiklab Pinoy 2026” for cultural understanding and diplomacy.

It heralds as well the Philippines’ “National Heritage Month” because a nation’s legacy is not only limited to its legacy and the physical reminders.

 It includes the inter-generational values, inherently embodied by the “Ilaw ng Tahanan” (Light of the Home) – the mother.

Jed and Patty are going to gift the photos and letters to the children of their friends.