And the winner is...
MANILA, Philippines - If there is anything you should know about Tammy David, it’s that, for a 27-year-old, she has a lot of stories to tell.
Opening her first solo show, “Crown and Country,” at the Manila Collective, the story she tells is one about beauty queens and pageants. Told with 12 photographs, the beauty pageantry that we see is different from what we are probably used to.
Beauty pageants were not always appealing or meaningful to her. Asked if she grew up following the scene, she answered with an incredulous look and a shake of her head. “I mean, I watched the 1994 Miss Universe pageant along with the rest of the Philippines,” she says, “and I think Margie Moran is stunning.”
It seems as though David’s interest in the matter ended there. That is, until a good friend, on her way to law school, suddenly decided to join a national pageant. Surprised and skeptical, David armed herself with her camera and decided to find out what the big deal was. Thankfully, she found the answers to the questions that had mushroomed in her head. What comprises “Crown and Country” is a selection of photographs taken from her photojournalism thesis, chronicling another side of beauty pageantry that is rarely thought of by the public. This journey began in 2008, and as her collection of photos grew, piece by piece, so did her understanding of and appreciation for these events.
Beauty Queen Boot Camp
As they say, there’s always something more to every story, and putting together this exhibit has proven this to Tammy. Tailing beauty pageants — from the training sessions (yes, there’s such a thing as beauty queen boot camp) to the coronation nights — made her witness to a lot of eye-openers. “You begin forming friendships, rooting for them, calculating the odds of victory,” she shares.
Her photographs explore the different aspects of beauty pageantry: from girls in the middle of training, to breaks in the hallways, to a manong appreciating a contestant’s bikini-ed backside. While there are photographs showing roaring crowds, and those that capture the magical moment of a beauty queen’s victory, David exposes a certain quietness and frames a certain humanity and charm she previously believed to be absent from these events.
With her photos, she uncovers these moments, and makes them intimate, bringing the spectacle down to a level closer to the human experience. David used to think that pageants, in themselves, were dated and thought that it was something that more or less flew under most people’s radar. Much to her surprise, the beauty queen scene was still very much active. “I wanted to understand where they come from and what these pageants mean to them,” she says.
David also saw it as a way to learn more about her own country and its culture. Likening it to boxing and basketball, she now sees how strong the impact and influence of beauty pageants over the Philippines and its people is. Tammy also thinks that beauty pageants are a big part of the Philippines’ colonial history, and by extension, the perception of beauty in this country.
David wants to underline the idea that there are many ways to talk about the Philippines, to comment on it without having to resort to photographing the slums. “The Philippines isn’t just about poverty,” she shares. She believes that there are many other stories to tell, stories that are interesting enough, and are thematically, culturally, and historically relevant to Filipinos.
She is excited as she lists other possible photo stories — the music scene, boys who like comics, apartments — and it seems like the possibilities are endless for a girl like Tammy David. And the great thing about it is, she wants other people to know that the possibilities for them and their own stories are endless, too.
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“Crown and Country” is on display until Oct. 17 in Manila Collective, Cubao X.
