Manila North Cemetery serves as a final resting place for over a million dead, including many celebrities, historical figures and several former presidents, but it is also housing thousands of living who have chosen burial grounds over densely populated and dangerous slums of the Philippines' capital.
Although most of the Filipinos, from taxi drivers to university professors believe in ghosts and spirits and are eager to engage in a conversation about them, the North Cemetery dwellers present a rare exception: for them dead are not the source of fear and danger but more of a reason they have at least some kind of roof over their heads and chance to make a living. Many of the families inhabiting lavish mausoleums actually serve as their caretakers and have to vacate the cemetery on particular holidays when the rich families come to pay annual respects to their dead; others offer their services as informal tour guides helping anyone interested to see the most remarkable tombs and retaining oral history of the area.
Photographs from these series were showcased at SEA-Junction,
Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre in April 2018.
Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre in April 2018.
