Filipino Photographer Hannah Reyes Morales Goes Home Again

Author: Paul Jun / Source: 99U by Behance

If you’re from Manila, Philippines, the common narrative is that you would stay here and never leave. But Filipino photographer, Hannah Reyes Morales, had to leave home in order to see the beauty amid the chaos where she lives and creates.

The streets of Manila are busy and chaotic, and something about the chaos is fascinating and comforting.

At every turn, people are selling things. You can count on someone singing karaoke as early as 4 p.m. in the afternoon. And you can hear children laughing and playing outside after school. All day long, colorful “jeepneys,” or public buses, rumble up the streets, and at every stop people get in and out. It is this Manila, with its vibrancy, that I love, and it inspires me and influences my photography. I was surrounded by this aesthetic as a child, so it’s reflected in my drawing, artwork, and photography.

There’s an art concept called “horror vacui,” which in Latin means the fear of empty spaces. When I was in high school, one of my teachers described Filipino culture as horror vacui because we fill up every space – just look at our jeepneys! I translate this concept to my photography and composition by filling every bit of the frame. And for a long time, I thought all cities were like Manila, the chaos, the filling up of space, and people everywhere, because it’s all I’d ever known.

You see, if you’re from Manila or if you study in Manila, the common narrative is that you’d stay here and never leave. People might move within the Philippines or migrate to another country, but in my environment, this wasn’t the case.

I grew up in a house full of 14 people. Many of my friends never left, and people I love and have been with for decades are still here. Like horror vacui, being constantly surrounded by people gave me a sense of community and inspires my photography.