When I proposed the seminar‑workshop “Litók ug Lawas”: Utterances and the Embodied to the University of the Philippines Tacloban Division of Humanities, I did not anticipate that its title would eventually stand at the forefront of the university’s 12th commemoration of Supertyphoon Yolanda. What began as a modest offering—an invitation to gather, share, and think through art‑making—found itself woven into a larger act of remembering.

At the heart of the seminar‑workshop was a desire to create a space where artists across generations and geographies could meet in conversation. The Humanities students of UP Tacloban carried this intention with remarkable clarity. Their reflections revealed imaginations rooted in futures they are actively shaping, while remaining firmly anchored in the pasts they continue to hold—whether those pasts are marked by climate trauma, community memory, or personal histories.

The day affirmed how rich learning becomes when we place ourselves at the intersection of futures and pasts, attentive to the nuanced present we inhabit.

I extend my sincere gratitude to Dean Patricia Brazil Arinto and Division of Humanities Chair Jessa Amarille for trusting this collaboration; to Leyte‑Samar Heritage Center Director Nino Soria de Veyra for generously supporting the facilitation; to the Humanities students for their presence and engagement; and to the entire DH faculty for their steady support.

A huge thank you as well to Sir Leander Louis Orgen Oguin and Sir Jerx Aliposa for documenting the event with care.

*Read more about the workshop.