As a child of Filipino parents who fled the Marcos Regime, I have always felt that my life could have easily begun in the Philippines instead of the United States.
 Manila has always existed in retrograde to my life in America. Overseas, I photographed reckoning with the notion that what differentiates me from the Filipinos that I depict is a trick of the eye. In another life, I am that person in someone else’s frame.
 The narrative begins and ends with an authentic Filipino birth and death certificate that were forged in the famous black markets along Recto Ave. The series imagines an entire life, and my own demise in Manila from the lives and deaths of real people that I encountered and photographed.

The Magenta Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of TD Bank Group for their ongoing commitment to Flash Forward and to emerging artists.

© 2019 The Magenta Foundation

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The Office of Gilbert Li