1. AN EPISTEMOLOGY OF EXTRACTION
(2019-PRESENT)

Since 2018, my research focus has been on mining violence, with mining-related incidents like landslides as starting points for my work theorizing an epistemology of extraction beyond material violence. While my fieldwork spans Brazil, the Kingdom of Tonga, and the Philippines, my current research aims to develop an epistemology of extraction relevant to the island province of Cebu in the Philippines. I am developing three dimensions of an epistemology of extraction at the center of my M.A. thesis. Moving away from quarries as sites of violence, an epistemological lens helps situate the rule of law as a socio-political and historical site of mining violence.

* “Not Deadly Enough? The Erasure of Lived Experiences as the Epistemological Violence of Mining in Cebu, Philippines.” Comparative Law Journal of the Pacific Hors Série XXVII:53-92. Retrieved from https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/law/research/publications/about-nzacl/publications/special-issues/hors-serie-volume-xxvii-2024/6-atienza.pdf

* “It Runs in the Blood: Towards an Epistemology of Extraction”, M.A. Thesis in Sociology, at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (2023) - Scholarspace link

* “The Extractive Industry as a Perpetuation of Colonialism’s Transformational Power”, a culminating presentation as a visiting scholar at the East-West Center in Honolulu (2020)

2. ISLAND GENTRIFICATION (2020-ON-GOING). 

A 2013 super typhoon reinvigorated attempts at privatizing land on Bantayan Island in the Philippines. Now, over 9,000 fisherfolk families are at risk of dispossession. This scenario has shaped my focus on the ways that extractivism is pushing indigent fisherfolk and farming communities toward the social and political periphery. In the context of environmental and cultural loss, I look at the nexus of power and politics and examine how the privatization of land, characterized by an ideology of modernism and neoliberalism, is indicative of a deeply rooted civilizing mission that subsumes Bantayanons in the "modern" economy and eventually makes them workers for the landed elites. The starting point of this research is viewed through the lens of a type of island-gentrification. 

* Archival Project at GOODLand (2023)

* 'An Island for Sale' in' Climate. Habitats. Environment., published by MIT Press and NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (2022)

* “Claiming/Making”, independent research (2020-2022)

* An interview with Dr. Arnisson Andre Ortega on gentrification (2020)

Working as a freelance journalist while also initiating multimedia art projects in the Philippines and Australia has allowed me to combine research and narrative/visual storytelling. Initially starting as a volunteer roving reporter for Filipino programs on community radio in Sydney in 2016, I have since contributed articles and radio features for media outlets in Australia and the Australasia region.

* JOURNALISM & MULTIMEDIA PROJECTS

While living in Australia, I interviewed environmentalists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, White Nationalists, mining activists, artists and farmers. I have written articles and produced radio features on art, environment, and social justice for media outlets such SBS Radio, Art Monthly Australasia, Runway Journal, and KBR Radio’s Asia Calling. Some of this material, including interviews and video documentation, has also led to exhibitions at Firstdraft and 55 Sydenham Rd in Australia.

View complete list of works here and selected pieces below.

* “Coal mines and climate change: Australia's Adani controversy” for Asia Calling on KBR Radio (Id/Au)

* Text, video, and interviews (audio) in “In the Shadows of History” for Runway Journal (Au)

* Interview with Dr. Jackie Huggins featured in “Indigenous Australians demand recognition and participation” for Asia Calling on KBR Radio (Id/Au)

* Interview with farmer Chris Orr featured in SBS Radio podcast and part of my project “Harvest”

Various projects:

* Claiming / Making, 2020-2022

* Fauna / Flora, 2019-2020

* Harvest, 2016-2017

* Work 37.5 150 1800 hrs, 2017

* Our Islands, 2015-2016

* COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

In the past decade, I have maintained a collaborative art and research practice on Bantayan Island in the Philippines - my paternal home. Organizing actions, including film screenings, discussions, and audio-video documentation has allowed me to work on exhibitions and write articles about dispossession and cultural loss. In this context, I have exhibited at the Mori Art Museum (Japan) and presented at ASEAN Foundation’s Climate Futures #1 in Indonesia. I am also a founding member and researcher at GOODLand.

* “Tagpanalipod II, archival-based art project at GOODland (Ph)

* "Tidal" (under the collaborative name DAKOgamay) at the University of  Hawai'i at Mānoa Art Gallery (Ph)

* Grant proposal, project activities  & project report for "Para sa Aton (For Us)" funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Ph) & Dienst Kunst en Cultuur (Nl)

* Project report & activities for "Gilubong ang Akon Pusod sa Dagat (My Navel is Buried in the Sea)"