BAROTO

Baroto began unexpectedly in a coastal town. Marco Ortiga joined his brother-in-law, Marvin Montefrio, on fieldwork in Capiz, to study the impacts of climate change on the community’s livelihood and food security. There, Marco discovered the unique relationship local fishers have with their “baroto” or pump boats. Each baroto serves as a crucial means of earning an income and providing daily subsistence. So integral are the baroto to family life, they often carry the name of fisherfolk’s loved ones.

Exposed to the elements, barotos are often worn out within a few years of use. Too expensive to repair, the barotos can have multiple afterlives. They are built into the walls of fisherfolk’s homes, repurposed as drying beds for fish, or used as firewood for cooking. Many are simply discarded and left to rot. New challenges like worsening weather and tumultuous waters have made fishing journeys more perilous, shortening the barotos’ lives at sea.

Marco adds to the afterlife of the baroto and continues their stories. The process begins in Basiao, Ivisan. Working with local boatmaker, Harley Bulanon, Marco carefully dismantled, packed, and transported seven discarded barotos to Manila. Here, they are reconstructed into kinetic sculptures, retelling the motions of the sea . Each piece becomes a tribute to the boats past lives, the hands that crafted them, and the fisherfolk who took care of them. His pieces represent the changing relationship fishing communities have with their waters—impacted in some ways by the unpredictable changes in nature. Baroto revisits Marco’s earlier work, Inalon, which was developed during the Anakbanwa Art Residency in Dagupan XXX.