Gilubong ang Akon Pusod sa Dagat (My Navel is Buried in the Sea) focuses on the fishermen and seafarers from Bantayan Island, The Philippines. The work attempts to capture the significance and mystery of the sea to the millions of Filipinos who derive their living from it, particularly giving shape to a reality which is rarely seen. It reflects The Philippines’ historical and geographical relationship with the ocean and to its contemporary reality, as a metaphor of necessity and opportunity, and of both community and isolation.

Life at sea is shown through different angles, contrasting the fishermen to their counterpart professional seamen. Their creative make do diving equipment diverges from the heavy machinery that is the seafarers’ tool. Yet, there are parallels which blur their differences—theextraordinary sights they witness in or on the sea, the constancy of the horizon, the dominance of men within their field who work as the primary breadwinners for their families. The motives to work in—and the effect of—their livelihoods, both with their own difficulties and challenges, are palpably embedded in the work. Intermixing with jovial spirits and playful jibes is the idea of family and longing; banal tasks cross with scenes strange and foreign, sensing external and internal dislocations.