ELMER BORLONGAN

The phrase tabi-tabi po translates to ‘excuse me, please let me pass’, a Tagalog idiom used to ask permission of the land before approaching its territory, and an expression of respect for the agency of our non-human surroundings. ‘It is an homage,’ the artist says, ‘for natural spirits that reside in the trees, the rivers, the mountains and the sea.’ Informed by the mango orchards, mountain-scapes and seashores of his second home and studio in Zambales, in the Central Luzon region, the exhibition celebrates the richness of human relationships to nature.

In approaching the natural world through the mythic, Borlongan’s imagery reaches beyond geography to intertwine memory with terrain. He gathers recollections from childhood, shared intimacies with his wife, ancestral stories, and the quiet meditations of everyday life. This direction is not merely a personal archive but a deliberate affirmation of life in the countryside.

Romantic in its nostalgia yet grounded in present choices, Borlongan’s vision rises in sharp contrast to the aggressive development and restless urbanisation reshaping rural and coastal communities across the archipelago. By bringing the local and the intimate to the fore, his work offers a counter-narrative to the homogenising thrust of modern expansion, where memory, land, and the everyday stand as enduring sites of resistance and meaning.

Tabi-Tabi Po, the idiom and the exhibition, explore a deep worldview of interconnectedness, reflecting the belief that beyond the visible world lies another unseen realm. From this wellspring of inspiration, Borlongan shapes his exhibition with cadence and sensitivity, grounding it in folk traditions that continue to live today.