Gab Mejia is the lone Filipino creative selected for FOTO Bali Festival 2026

Gab Mejia is set to represent the Philippines at the second edition of the FOTO Bali Festival scheduled for June 3 to July 12 at the Nuanu Creative City.

The queer Filipino conservation photographer joins 35 other creatives from 23 countries, including:

• Akshay Mahajan (India)
• Alessandro Bo (Mexico)
• Anita Khemka & Imran Kokiloo (India)
• Aprillio Abdullah Akbar (Indonesia)
• Arhant Shrestha (Nepal)
• Aziziah Diah Aprilya (Indonesia)
• Bertha Wang (China)
• Ceicillia Dita (Indonesia)
• Charmaine de Heij (Netherlands / Suriname)
• Chiara Goia (Italy)
• Chloe Bartram (Australia)
• Daniela Balestrin (Brazil)
• Gianluca Lanciai (Italy)
• Ha Dao (Vietnam)
• Igor Schiller (Serbia)
• Jiatong Lu (China)
• Joel Jimenez (Costa Rica)
• Joyantee Raina (Bangladesh)
• Kate Perfilieva (Russia)
• Keyza Widiatmika (Indonesia)
• Kibe Nduni (Kenya)
• Lars Dyrendom & Inuk Jørgensen (Denmark / Greenland)
• Made Virgie Avianthy (Indonesia)
• Martín Bollati (Argentina)
• Muhammad Dwiki Viansa (Indonesia)
• Nadège Mazars (France)
• Nicolás Bernal (Colombia)
• Primagung D. Riliananda (Indonesia)
• Rodrigo Illescas (Argentina)
• Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo (Colombia)
• Sean Cham (Singapore)
• Valeria Arendar (Argentina / Mexico)
• Vinit Gupta (India)
• Wimadetra (Indonesia)
• Yuki Furusawa (Japan)

“White Water,” Gab’s selected work for the festival, explores "memory, colonial mapping, and rising seas in the Philippines."

Guided by the theme “Afterimage,” this year’s festival explores how images persist beyond the moment they are captured, shaping memory, identity, and collective experience over time.

Aside from being a conservation photographer, Gab is also a multidisciplinary artist and environmental engineer. His work has been published in National Geographic, the United Nations, Vogue, and the Queer East Film Festival, among others.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by FOTO Bali Festival (@fotobalifestival)

—Hermes Joy Tunac/JCB, GMA News