‘Visita Iglesia’ in photographs

At first, there was a Holy Week story to fill with a spread of photographs on Pampanga churches. Studying the initial images, Peter Alagos, Caesar Lacson and Diosdado Pangilinan felt a sense of rediscovery.

“Bong (Lacson) suggested more shoots,” Alagos said.

Shortly after, the three photojournalists plunged into a two-week collective project that entailed 30 to 45 minutes of work in every site, using their digital cameras.

Their output? An album of 108 vivid photographs of 10 churches and a chapel in their home province—the pioneer mission and last bulwark of the Augustinian Order in the Philippines.

Their exhibit features the Sta. Monica Church in Minalin and St. James the Apostle in Betis, Guagua (both national cultural treasures); St. William the Hermit Church in Bacolor; St. Augustine Church in Lubao; St. Rita Church in Sta. Rita; St. Lucia Church in Sasmuan; Holy Rosary Church in Angeles City; Metropolitan Cathedral in the City of San Fernando; St. Aloysius Church in San Luis; St. Peter the Apostle in Apalit; and Sto. Niño Chapel in Sto. Tomas.

“To us, this is not a cultural thing. Entering a church is a pilgrimage, a contemplation on the life of Christ and saints,” said Lacson on the their exhibit, “Visita Iglesia: Edifices of the Kapampangan faith revisited.”

Mounted at SM Clark from March 21 to April 4, the exhibit evokes unexpected reactions from spectators.

Alagos said people touched the photographs as if in act of veneration, made the sign of the cross, sought maps or asked for directions to the churches. Visitors linger even past mall hours.

“The photographs are largely unadulterated,” said Alagos, a former Inquirer correspondent. “These are photographs, not artworks.”

Pangilinan called the work at the St. James Church a miracle because despite a prohibition on the use of flash bulbs to protect the paintings and artifacts, they managed to produce beautiful pictures from available natural lighting.

What Lacson liked best is that the exhibit recommended a Holy Week journey. The Alliance of Travel and Tours Agencies of Pampanga (Attap), for instance, organized a Visita Iglesia using the three photographers’ route.

The exhibit is a contrast to the bloody Semana Santa rituals in the province. It also documents the structures that survived floods, volcanic eruptions, lahar flows and wars.