Miguel Espiritu
There is something captivating about displacement: now living a day’s flight away from my home in the Philippines, I am often asked what it is like, both by those here and back home. Attempts to answer have always fallen short; how do you describe something without the language of shared experience? Over five years since the move, I am still in search of an answer. What began with simply photographing what interested me became a contemplation of this, an exploration of belonging and separation, of place and placelessness.
In this series of photographs, I capture what to others may seem mundane but to me are anything but: wild geese crossing the street outside a Walmart, men fishing by a dam along the Iowa River, buildings and roads, bridges and tracks distinctly Midwest American. Along with these I offer self-portraits, glimpses of myself in the intimate landscape of my own being; after all, the self, too, is a place, at times hostile, at times tender and familiar.
color; Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City; daytime; through the branches of a fallen tree devoid of leaves, a person sits on a bench along a gravel path; the branches in focus, the person not
color; daytime; a narrow alley somewhere downtown, painted in white and covered in graffiti
Point of Entry
Angler (Catch of the Day)
black & white; view from above and far away; the photo dominated by the Iowa River, lined by the shore along the top; small, in the corner, a person is shin-deep, fishing
black & white; view from directly above; along the jagged shore, a person hunches over his catch; they are hemmed in on one side by the river and on the other by a concrete ledge
black & white; view from above and far away; two people stand along the river’s edge, dwarfed by the walls of the Stanley Hydraulics Lab behind them; one is dressed in light clothing, the other in dark; the water is white with motion
Iowa Scenes (Just Something About a Midwest Sky)
(Left/first) color; afternoon; the Power Plant, massive, industrial, red brick covered in pipes and tanks; in the foreground, the river; in the background, a clear blue sky
(second) color; downtown Davenport; afternoon; from below, a blue sky with fluffy white clouds; on either side, a tall building; the one on the left in shadow, the one on the right bathed in light.
(third) color; from the top of a parking deck; dusk; the Iowa City skyline; red brick buildings of varying heights, accents of metal and glass; in the background, a massive purple cloud appears like a mountain range; above it, a light blue gradient sky
(last) color; Davenport; midday; view from a distance; a couple approaches the railings by the Mississippi; far away, across the river, Rock Island stands, buildings in different shades of red and pink, a red tower in the middle; the upper half of the photo is all blue sky and clouds
Did You Cross It When You Got There?
(Left /first) black & white; just outside the tunnel beneath the Iowa Avenue bridge; the rails and arches of the bridge lead the eye from the right edge of the photo to the center, where the Old Capitol Museum stands, imposing with its shining dome and massive pillars; the left half of the photo is all river and foliage
(Center/second) black & white; the corner of Riverside and Burlington, Iowa City; view from the bend of the bridge’s railing; on the left of the photo, the railing appears to go on forever; on the right of the photo, the river beneath the bridge, then a sudden drop marked by the white river rush; in the distance, the Power Plant
(Right/third) black & white; from a riverbank along the Iowa River Corridor Trail; the foreground is thick foliage; in the river, a bridge stands, holding weathered train tracks; wires jut from the foliage up to a wooden pillar; wires shoot from the top of the wooden pillar to the other side of the river
Rush Hour (When the Night Hits, Repeatedly)
color; night; camera tilted a little past 90 degrees; the artist lies naked in a bed of blue sheets; the shadows are purple; his figure appears doubled in a faint, yellow-green halo
color; night; a long exposure; Burlington Street is streaked with light from invisible cars; the scene is bathed in red light from headlights, stop lights, and the tops of distant buildings; all else is dark
Wishful Thinking
Black & white; a weathered railroad; the artist’s hand holds an image of Recto (photographed by Sofia Paderes), juxtaposing Manila on Iowa City, making it appear as though the railroad were connected to the Light Rail Transit (LRT) halfway across the world
Static
(first) color; night; from the ground; a concrete pillar emerges from treetops, wires jutting out and downward diagonally on either side; long exposure traces the paths of insects around a street light, making them seem like little bolts of electricity
(second) color; downtown Iowa City, a sidewalk; night; in a puddle of water, the reflection of a clock tower; the clock face glows red-orange, the time near illegible
(third) color; night; upside down; a concrete pillar stark against the night sky, leading upward to foliage; wires jut out and upward diagonally on either side; long exposure traces the paths of insects around a street light, making them seem like little bolts of electricity
In the Good Light
black & white; afternoon; sunlight beams through large glass sliding doors into a living room, casting deep diagonal shadows; the artist sits slumped on the couch in his living room, legs crossed, a distant stare.
black & white; afternoon; sunlight beams through large glass sliding doors into a living room, casting deep diagonal shadows; the artist lies sideways on his couch, one leg outstretched and the other folded, one hand draped off the edge of the couch and the other disappearing beneath his shirt; he looks right at the camera.
Buddy System
(first) color; along the Mississippi; midday; the water’s edge is littered with trash and debris; slightly further into the water, two geese stand, one upright and the other reaching down with its head; a wave approaches the shore
(second) color; the bus stop outside Walmart; afternoon; a woman sits on the edge of a planter made of red brick; she stares intently at her phone; in the background, a goose has crossed the road on foot, another goose following along some distance away
How Do I Look?
(first) black & white; on a bed, a blanket forms a landscape, with features leading the eye to the curves of the artist’s legs, resting off to one side, bent at the knee
(second) black & white; the artist’s body is seen from their point of view, looking downward, to the floor; on the floor is a crumpled up piece of clothing and around his ankles is a pair of shorts; chest and belly out of focus, thigh downward in focus; a beam of light cuts the image in half
(third) black & white; over a backdrop of creased sheets and medical paraphernalia out of focus, a portion of hand raised to the camera, a droplet of blood on the tip of the index finger
In Flight (In Which I Win a Game of Chicken)
(Left/first) black & white; the artist’s perspective; he lies down on a couch, his thighs in focus, resting to the side; in the foreground, out of focus, a partner’s hand rests on his chest
(Right/second) black & white; the open sky, a backdrop abundant in clouds; near the center of the photo, the silhouette of a large bird in flight, wings outstretched