Fisherfolk and Artists Use Art To Raise Awareness For Coastal Protection

GUBAT, SORSOGON— Art became a platform for environmental awareness and community action as fisherfolk, coastal residents, photographers, artists, poets, and environmental advocates gathered in Gubat, Sorsogon on October 3, 2026 to highlight the importance of protecting coastlines and the communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on the sea.

The gathering, “LAKAT-LENTE nan RAWIT-DAWIT SA BAYBAYON: Photowalk x Poetry Reading at Gubat Bay,” was held as part of Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk 2026 and Design Week Philippines, in partnership with the DTI Design Center of the Philippines.

Organized by Kurit-Lagting Art Collective together with the Save Gubat Bay Movement (SGBM), a community movement composed of fisherfolk and coastal residents, with Rhymes of PEG as poetry partner, the activity used photography and poetry to encourage greater attention to the coastal environment, the people who depend on it and the need to protect its future.

Participants explored selected areas along Gubat’s coast, photographing people, places and everyday scenes connected to the sea. Rather than treating the coastline simply as a scenic subject, the activity invited participants to look at the coast as a living environment tied to livelihoods, community life, culture and environmental concerns.

The creative activity also included a community-led environmental action, with fisherfolk and coastal residents holding placards calling for the protection of seas and coastlines and expressing opposition to proposed coastal road projects.

For the Save Gubat Bay Movement, bringing artists and photographers into the community created an opportunity to make environmental concerns more visible through creative expression.

“The bay is not just a backdrop. It is where people live, work and earn their livelihood. Through this activity, we were able to bring the voices of fisherfolk and coastal residents into a creative space where more people can see why protecting Gubat Bay matters,” said Allan Espallardo, president of the Save Gubat Bay Movement.

The community-led environmental action added a direct community voice to the artistic activities, demonstrating how creative gatherings can also become spaces for people to express concerns about the future of their coastal environment.

For Kurit-Lagting Art Collective, the photowalk demonstrated how art can help communities draw attention to environmental issues while creating opportunities for people to see familiar places from new perspectives.

“Photography can do more than capture what is beautiful. It can help us see what is at stake. When we photograph the people, livelihoods and ecosystems connected to the coast, we are also creating a visual record of what communities want to protect,” said Allan Abrigo, walk leader and co-founder of Kurit-Lagting Art Collective.

The activity also encouraged photographers to approach the coastline not simply as a subject for images but as an environment shaped by human relationships, livelihoods and ecological concerns.

“Lakat-Lente gave us a chance to use art to pay closer attention to the coast and the people connected to it. The images can become a way of opening conversations about what we value, what we need to protect and what kind of future we want for places like Gubat Bay,” said Geri Matthew “Choi” Carretero, co-founder of Kurit-Lagting Art Collective.

The photowalk was followed by a poetry reading, where poets and participants responded to the coast through words and personal reflections. The combination of photography and poetry allowed participants to interpret the coastal environment through different creative forms while creating space for reflection on environmental protection.

“Poetry gives us another language for expressing what we feel about a place. After seeing the coast through photographs and hearing from the community, the poems became another way of giving voice to our relationship with the sea,” said Jessa Erandio, representative of Rhymes of PEG.

The collaboration brought together people who experience the coast in different ways. For fisherfolk and coastal residents, the sea is closely connected to livelihood and everyday life. For artists and photographers, it became a space for observation, storytelling and creative expression. The activity brought these perspectives together through a shared concern for the coastal environment.

The gathering formed part of the “Sama All” theme of Design Week Philippines, emphasizing collaboration, participation and shared creative experiences.

For Kurit-Lagting, the activity also highlighted the potential of community-based art to contribute to environmental awareness.

“Art can be a way of making people stop, look and listen. It can bring environmental concerns into conversations through images, poetry and direct community expression. When art is created with communities, it can help make visible the places and issues they are asking people to care about,” Carretero said.

The activity builds on Kurit-Lagting Art Collective’s continuing efforts to bring creative practice into communities and use art to open conversations about place, culture, heritage and the environment. It also builds on the collective’s collaboration with the DTI Design Center of the Philippines, including Lakat-Lente in Pampanga in 2025, as well as Kurit-Lagting Art Collective and Save Gubat Bay Movement’s earlier community engagement in Gubat in 2022.

Following the photowalk, community-led action, and poetry reading, Kurit-Lagting Art Collective and Rhymes of PEG, in collaboration with the Save Gubat Bay Movement, are planning an exhibition featuring selected photographs and creative responses generated from the activity.

The planned exhibition will provide another platform for artists, participants, fisherfolk and community members to share perspectives on Gubat’s coastal environment and amplify conversations about the protection of the bay, seas and coastlines.

The activity was supported by Delta Beta Omega Sorsogon (DBO), DigitalCrafters Printing Services, Gubat Photographers Club, Bicol Traveler, Friends of Saint Mary MacKillop, Inc. (FSMM), Anugon Water Refilling Station, Gubat St. Anthony Cooperative (GSAC), Malikhain Studio, Soffie’s, Project Mars, Gadgetry City, and the Chancery.

LAKAT-LENTE nan RAWIT-DAWIT SA BAYBAYON was the Sorsogon Edition of Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk 2026, bringing together photography, poetry, community participation and environmental awareness in a shared creative experience along Gubat’s coast.