the SETTLERS

HÖNE NAERA-SCOTT voyages to the 1700s, when Filipinos were one of the first settlers to step foot on American soil.

- TICIA ALMAZAN

HÖNE NAERA-SCOTT IS STUCK IN TAHITI. Intending to return to New Zealand after catching up with his brother in Paris, he stopped over first in Los Angeles, then in the French Polynesian island. As luck would have it, some of the staff and cabin crew of his airline, Air Tahiti Nui, have gone on strike. Yet the photographer seems unfazed by the situation, being away from home with no definite means to his destination.

Dwelling in foreign territory is something Hōne is used to. "Up until my early 20s, I was always just trying to be a chameleon, trying to mirror whatever people wanted to see out of me," the New Zealand-born Filipino-American reflects. Even his accent is one you can't quite place: a predominantly Kiwi inflection tinged with hints of an American tongue.

Eventually, the gray areas surrounding Hone's multicultural identity thrust him into researching about Filipinos as the first settlers in America, a year-and-a-half-long project that hasn't yet concluded. "Growing up, I'd always wanted to see Asian cowboys. It led me into this thing [on Filipinos as the first settlers in America], and I was like, this is crazy that no one knows about this," he says, astounded.

The research process, Hōne describes, was difficult because of very limited resources. He would come across written accounts, video documentaries, and even Filipinos in Louisiana Facebook group, which all provided him with more or less the same data. "What I found is there was a lot open for interpretation," he narrates.

Initially, the photographer envisioned a Western approach to the story, referencing cowboys and horses. However, he realized that it wasn't true to the time period he wanted to portray. Laying the groundwork for this visual story, he eventually shifted its focus to the seafaring aspect of Filipino settlers, "an archipelagic kind of element where Filipinos lived on the water in America."