Princesa, 2026

Concrete, pigment
30.8 × 100 × 24.5 cm

This sculptures by Stephanie Comilang is part of a series of caterpillars connected to her two-channel video diptych Search for Life. The title, Princesa, references in its larva stage the Monarch Butterfly, one of the narrators of the video work.

The first film in the video installation Search for Life explores the contemporary global maritime cargo shipping industry and the vital role Filipino seafarers play within it. The film is made up of stories told by various figures, including the historian Guadalupe Pinzón Ríos; Filipino butterfly specialist Jade Aster T. Badon; a florist, Michael John Díaz, and painter Joar Songcuya, both Filipino seafarers; a boy named Simón from Michoacán, Mexico; and, of course, the voice of the monarch butterfly whose migration required generations of movement.

In an interview with Joar Songcuya, the artist and seafarer reflects on the bright orange safety vests worn at sea, designed to ensure visibility in the event of falling overboard. The film then transitions to images of orange monarch butterflies, whose vivid coloration similarly allows them to stand out within the landscape, creating a visual parallel between human survival and natural adaptation.

For this work, red concrete serves as the primary material, evoking the industrial infrastructure of maritime labor through its color while conveying the physical weight of migration through its material presence.

Photo by Marjorie Brunet Plaza