Tampa Photography Blog

This year’s recipient of the Pictures of the Year International (POYi) Emerging Vision Incentive award is truly exposing a way of life that is bizarre, intriguing and sad.

Photographer James Chance will continue to document his project called “Living with the Dead: Manila’s North Cemetery.” Through his project he is exposing a community of 2,000 people who have made their home the North Cemetery, among hundreds of thousands of Filipino presidents, celebrities and Catholics.

These families have literally built lives on top of tombs and graves. They live and work there instead of in the city slums, where many of the city’s poverty stricken people reside. Approximately 40 percent of Manila’s population lives below the poverty line.

According to Chance, 80 funerals can occur each day in the North Cemetery.

Chance’s goal is to explore the lives of the people that live among the dead. The most interesting aspect of his plan is to understand the cycle of life in this community—“babies are born as bodies are laid to rest.”

It’s rare these days to see classic storytellers receiving money to do what they do best. I’m excited to see the POYi grant awarded to Chance and I can’t wait to see what he does with the project.

*Photo by James Chance*