RIDING THE WAVES OF ACTIVISM

From Hawaiians battling for their sovereignty to long-haired hippies safeguarding the planet, surfers have been politically active for centuries. Now, young surfers in Asia are fighting for a better future

- Salomé Grouard

“Surfing has a deep history of white-washing and racism. I really wanted to take the opportunity to show our pride: I wanted to empower the brownness in us, as well as the femininity of our culture.”

To challenge the postcolonial narratives of what it means to be Filipino, Geotina dubbed his project Pearls, a reference to a line from the national anthem, Perlas ng Silangan, that translates to “pearl of the Orient”.

With the help of surf photographers Bren Fuentes and Jose Mirasol, Geotina captured his friends riding the waves while wearing the traditional Filipiniana style of dresses. He included both cis and trans women in his project as a way of highlighting the role Spanish colonialism and Christianity played in the repression of gender diversity in the country. The clothes, Geotina says, have both a metaphorical and physical weight. Soaked in water, the women’s ability to surf while wearing them proves both their talent and resilience. The decision to produce them in black and white, he says, adds to their timelessness.

The Pearls project, which was symbolically released on Philippines Independence Day in 2021, quickly went viral, generating thousands of likes, shares and comments on social media from both the local and international community. It has also been exhibited outside the Philippines.

After extending the project to feature surfers from Indonesia, Geotina says that Pearls evolved organically into “a project for humanity, transcending the boundaries of myself and my team.

“Never has a project I’ve done met so much success. It shows how much the people of the Philippines, and of the rest of Asia, need to be included in the global surfing conversation.”

INDONESIA

FLORA CHRISTIN Female empowerment