Now at the SCHIRN: Stephanie Comilang. Coordinates at Dawn

The single-channel video installation „Diaspora ad Astra“ (2020) tells the fictional story of a Filipino sailor. Each year, some forty thousand Filipinos leave their homeland, often for several months, to work on merchant ships that sail the globe. Contact with home is limited because internet connections are expensive and unstable.
Comilang’s film is set during the Covid-19 pandemic, when freighters were often not allowed to dock in ports for fear of infection, causing additional stress for crews whose situation was already precarious. We see static images of a ship on a calm sea alternating with scenes of pulsating life on land, after which the horizon again spreads out over the ocean. In a voice-over recited by the artist’s father, a seaman describes life and loneliness on board, ending with a mournful love song.

The montage merges shaky drone recordings reminiscent of video games with smartphone videos shot from the protagonist’s point of view. Images of colonial ruins are interspersed with short videos in which the sailor describes his background as a pineapple and water-bottle salesman and his dream of becoming a singer. During quarantine, the sailor finds solace by reading the Filipino science-fiction anthology “Diaspora Ad Astra” (2013), which lends the film its name. A story within describes space travelers on long trading voyages. Forbidden from returning to their home planets for fear of infiltration by aliens, they must remain in orbit. The title “Diaspora Ad Astra” is a play on the Latin phrase “per aspera ad astra,” meaning “through suffering to the stars.” The idea is that surviving great adversity holds the promise of new opportunities.

Stephanie Comilang’s latest work, “Search for Life: Diptych,” is a visual adventure. The first part of the diptych is presented in large format on two opposing projection surfaces, pulling the viewer into an immersive experience. The ship is the central element of the film. Starting in the Philippines, the work traces colonial shipping routes that are still in use today. Where Spanish conquistadors once navigated, the container ships of global trade now rule the seas. Filipino seamen play a major role in this commerce, as the island nation has a long maritime tradition.

“Search for Life I” portrays the daily life on a cargo ship of one such sailor, the artist Joar Songcuya, alongside the story of florist Michael John Díaz, who managed to escape life at sea. The two describe their work on board as being part of a global industry—breaking with any romanticized views of sailing. Comilang’s poetic visual language weaves in further timelines and characters, including the Filipino butterfly researcher Jade Aster T. Badon and the historian Guadalupe Pinzón Ríos. The story of the monarch butterfly is a central motif that links the various levels of the installation. The butterfly covers vast distances on its annual migration from Canada to Mexico, and thus serves as a metaphor for change, resilience, and transformation.

The video installation is accompanied by textile works and sculptural elements. Piña cloth, a traditional textile fiber made from pineapple leaves, is displayed on two life-size figurines. The fabrics refer to colonial ties between the Philippines, Spain, and Mexico, and have been digitally embroidered with plants and butterflies, a gesture that brings together traditional craft techniques with contemporary computer technology. The artist also presents works made of denim embroidered with the abstracted flowers of colonial crops such as mangos, cocoa, coffee beans, and bananas.