Issa Barte shares her perspective on the artist&rsquo;s role in environmental work.

PHOTOGRAPHY Koji Arboleda
STYLING AND CREATIVE DIRECTION Paolo Chua

Issa Barte has traveled all over the Philippines, visiting each region for her work on the Youth Atlas recording the culture and arts of Philippine indigenous communities. At every destination, she has relearned what it means to be Filipino.
&ldquo;I think one really big one that opened my eyes was our field work in Bukidnon with the Talaandig-Manobo community,&rdquo; she says. Working with fellow photographers and artists for a project documenting the Babaylan, she heard firsthand from the communities about how groups like them resisted colonization, resulting in language, art, dances and rituals that have never been touched by outsiders. And from that experience, she was moved to create a threaded oil and acrylic painting of Apu Insayan, the starry-robed woman and first baylan of the Talaandig-Manobo.

&ldquo;I just found their culture so rich and it echoes the richness of our biodiversity,&rdquo; she shares. &ldquo;We can have a culture as rich as that; that is in tune and in the right relationship with our biodiversity, our ecology and in the right relation to ourselves.&rdquo;
Culture is at the center of Barte&rsquo;s climate advocacy. If we truly want to solve the climate crisis, she believes that it is important to understand the role of our culture in creating communities that enact change. &ldquo;Our scientists and researchers have come up with all the technology that we need,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;The role of the artist now is to try to get people to reflect on that; to make people want to get there.&rdquo;
Her experiences have taught her that man&rsquo;s disconnection to the earth has accelerated the climate crisis. Today, people might believe that we are all separate from each other, but she thinks the solution can be found in the relationships we build with ourselves and others: &ldquo;In climate work, one has to insist on the realization of a better future &mdash; and then dedicate the time to make it real. Connection in itself is a creative act. One has to imagine something that isn&rsquo;t there and make it real.&rdquo;

MAKE-UP Luis Bu&ntilde;ag
HAIR Cloud Olid
LIGHTING DIRECTOR Joey Alvero

Dreaming of Better Futures: Issa Barte

L'OFFICIEL HOMMES PHILIPPINES JUNE 2025 - Cole Micek ₱600

L'OFFICIEL PHILIPPINES JUNE/JULY 2025 - Intimate Encounters ₱600

Dreaming of Better Futures: Issa Barte

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