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Voices
Two figures stand on a bridge dressed in hand-made Indigenous regalia.
Introduction
Black and white photograph of a palm tree with a sliver of orange color.
Loss of Land and Culture
A digital rendering of a large crown made of light and metal in a forest.
Revitalizing Shared Space
Traditional boats sail around a bend.
Art and Activism
Two figures stand in front of a landscape dressed in hand-made Indigenous regalia.
What the Past Teaches the Future
Traditional boats sail around a bend.
Drone shot of a boat parade in the waters around Bantanyan Island in celebration of Fisherfolks Day in 2022. © Martha Atienza

Art and Activism

Martha Atienza’s art focuses on preserving the culture of fisherfolk on her home of Bantayan Island in the Philippines. Commemorating this culture, which has been challenged by more lucrative trades, declining fish populations, and the displacement caused by tourism, typhoons, and rising sea levels, is an act of resistance in and of itself carried out in her art. One of her past projects led to the establishment of Fisherfolks Day, or “Adlaw sa Mananagat,” a collaboration between local government and fisherfolk leaders highlighting the importance of their culture.

Women sit around a table talking.
Another of Atienza’s projects, the Bahiya Warriors, engages young people on Bantayan Island to work with film. They record interviews with elders to capture cultural heritage and oral traditions in addition to protecting the local environment by mapping the watershed and identifying local plant and tree species. © Martha Atienza
A group of people interview and film an elder.
Bihiya Warriors record interviews with an elder, capturing details of their cultural heritage and oral traditions. © Martha Atienza

For the Soros Arts Fellowship, Atienza will develop the Tigpanalipod (The Protectors) project, so named to reflect the way the fisherfolk do not seek to own land or sea but rather to protect it. By engaging youth on the island to capture traditional fishing practices and culture on video, and developing a community-centered archive, she will continue to help community members envision a better future for themselves, their island, and the surrounding sea. This builds on a previous project supporting local youth who studied videomaking with her in making a documentary about the Mambacayao Dako reef, which helped establish the Barangay Lipayran Marine Protected Area in September 2022.

“These young people have the potential to become marine biologists or scientists looking for the solutions to the problems we face with our oceans. That should be their future. It makes me sad to think that instead their future may be workers at a resort where tourists come. I would like decision-makers to see their true potential. And I think perhaps the art could bring that to them.”
— Martha Atienza

Portrait of Martha Atienza.

For many communities in the Philippines and around the world, daily life is a pressing struggle, which allows little room for reflection. Art, from ancient Indigenous practice to modern-day mediums like videography, allows space for those living and working close to the natural world to dream, and visualize something new—contributing solutions to climate change and other challenges.

A graphic with a black and white photograph of a boy wearing goggles on the left with text on the right that reads: Soros Arts Fellows, Martha Atienza, Protecting the Culture and Livelihoods of Filipino Fisherfolk.
3:12

On yet another island, Chemi Rosado-Seijo is transforming the El Cerro community in Puerto Rico into a “Green Barriada.” Rosado-Seijo has been working in El Cerro since 2002, when he began helping members of the marginalized community repaint their homes in different shades of green. As a “cultural DJ,” he and a team of volunteers used painting and community workshops to promote a sense of pride in a long-neglected neighborhood.

Two people walk through buildings.
Chemi Rosado-Seijo walks though the El Cerro neighborhood where his projects have been based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 27, 2017. © Christopher Gregory/NYTimes/Redux

Rosado-Seijo’s Soros Art Fellowship will help facilitate the next phase of the project to build community resilience. El Cerro: From Metaphor to Reality, will support greening efforts and develop a book documenting the neighborhood’s history and the methodology and impact of its new development. Rosado-Seijo is engaging with the local University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus as well as community members to make El Cerro power- and water-independent, using rainwater for their needs.

  • Two people smile and pose for a photo.
    Chemi Rosado-Seijo poses for a photo with an El Cerro resident in 2015. © Thais Lorca
  • A landscape view of a neighborhood.
    Landscape view of the El Cerro neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. © Chemi Rosado-Seijo
  • People walk through a neighborhood watching homes being painted.
    Locals and tourists come to see homes being painted in El Cerro in 2012. © Natalia Martínez Santiago
  • A landscape view of homes painted different shades of green.
    A view of homes painted different shades of green in El Cerro in 2002. © Edwin Medina

Rosado-Seijo’s work has helped empower the community in new—and sometimes surprising—ways. When the Fast and the Furious movie franchise filmed in the neighborhood, community members stood up for themselves and negotiated a better deal for compensation that provided much-needed additional revenue and support.

Grappling with destruction by tropical storms, Bantayan and El Cerro are drawing power and resilience from art and community. These fellows’ projects help celebrate, protect, and strengthen their cultures—building models that can be shared with other communities around the world.  

Two figures stand on a bridge dressed in hand-made Indigenous regalia.
Introduction
Black and white photograph of a palm tree with a sliver of orange color.
Loss of Land and Culture
A digital rendering of a large crown made of light and metal in a forest.
Revitalizing Shared Space
Traditional boats sail around a bend.
Art and Activism
Two figures stand in front of a landscape dressed in hand-made Indigenous regalia.
What the Past Teaches the Future

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