Objectifs Documentary Award Exhibitions

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Description

From indigenous spiritual practices to food security, these documentary projects from Southeast Asia bring us closer to our environment and each other.

Hear from the recipients of the Objectifs Documentary Awards as they share about the challenges and complexities of telling stories about their native communities.

• 4 April to 18 May 2025
• Free admission

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Exhibitions and Artist Talks

The Forest Listens, Their Spirits Cry

• By Gab Mejia (Philippines)
• Recipient of the Objectifs Documentary Award, Open Category
• Curated by Goh Sze Ying
• Chapel Gallery, Objectifs

Through the stories of Filipino Indigenous queer and women shamans, known as the Baylan, The Forest Listens, Their Spirits Cry seeks to reframe collective perceptions of forests, amplify indigenous and queer voices, and cultivate a vision of ecological liberation—one unbound by oppressive binaries, discrimination, militarization, and colonial structures.

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Tubig Alat (Salt Water)

• By Geela Garcia (Philippines)
• Recipient of the Objectifs Documentary Award, Emerging Category
• Mentored by Jessica Lim
• Lower Gallery 1, Objectifs

Tubig Alat (Salt Water) takes a profound look into the lives of artisanal saltmakers who uphold a tradition that is steeped in patience, perseverance, and hope.

While the Philippines is home to some of the rarest salts in the world, local salt varieties are rapidly approaching extinction due to unsupportive policies, industrial neglect, and the accelerating effects of climate change.

Tubig Alat endeavors to preserve not only the tradition of salt-making, but also the communities that rely on it.

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Mattude

• By Aziziah Diah Aprilya (Indonesia)
• Recipient of the Objectifs Documentary Award, Emerging Category
• Mentored by Jessica Lim
• Lower Gallery 2, Objectifs

A term for “collecting clams,” Mattude represents not only the act of gathering but also the resilience of the coastal women of Makassar, Indonesia.

The project captures the resilience of the coastal women, sharing their stories and their ongoing fight to preserve both their livelihoods and their spiritual bond with the sea in the face of the degradation of the sea ecosystem—caused by reclamation, pollution, and climate change.