Dead Spaces - Inside the Cemetery Cities of the Philippines

DEAD SPACES Shot in Metro Manila and Cebu City this visual narrative takes a look inside the sprawling cemetery cities of the Philippines that in recent years have become home to hundreds of poor migrant families. It starts with a portrayal of the fading glory of ethnic Chinese mausoleums in Manila. Shots of elaborate, painstakingly maintained tombs are followed by images showing varying degrees of decay and distress. Economic and demographic trends have contributed to the deterioration of these once imposing necropolises. Rapid population growth and migration from rural areas have created huge pressure on urban infrastructure and poorer families have also been displaced from make-shift shanty towns by redevelopment. With nowhere else to go, many have made their homes in these vast cemetery spaces. The images examine aspects of this unusual coexistence of the living and the dead. Whole families live in tombs and mausoleums cheek by jowl with the dead, often sleeping on the marble slabs that cover interred bodies. Goats, ducks, fighting cocks and numerous dogs and cats add to this eclectic mix. Children are born and families live out their lives in what have become surrogate mini cities housing this bizarre combination of the living and the dead.