MOMENTOUS

A photobook resurrecting old photos from a German-Filipino couple, MOMENTOUS transforms forgotten family images into a reflection on memory, migration, and care. Through the photobook process, it weaves themes into a tactile meditation on loss and legacy.

MOMENTOUS is a tender act of remembering. The book was born out of a plastic bag filled with old photographs, faded, curling at the edges, and almost forgotten. They were taken by a German-Filipino couple, my grandparents, as they moved through their lives between Europe and the Philippines in the mid-20th century. The images sat quietly for decades, until I found them, and began listening to the stories they were still trying to tell.

What started as an image research project at the Köln International School of Design became something far more personal: a way to hold onto moments slipping through the cracks of time. Through archiving, sequencing, and storytelling, I gave these images a space to breathe again. Some pages are full and layered, others nearly empty, reflecting how memory itself works: vivid, faded, lost.

The dark green fabric hardcover was inspired by an old family photo album I used to flip through as a child. I wanted the book to tangibly feel like something you’d find on a shelf in your grandparents’ living room, quietly waiting. The image layouts echo the way photos in family albums were often arranged, without strict order, with overlaps, with time blurring between frames. Every decision, from image pairings to the negative spaces between them, was made to reflect both loss and legacy.

The book was bound by hand in Köln, and this physical care is part of its story too, an attempt to preserve something delicate. Since its completion, MOMENTOUS has been shortlisted for the 2023 Kölner Design Preis, the 2024 Dummy Award, and has travelled through exhibitions around the world. In Köln, an image from the book was even transformed into public art, being displayed on historic art columns as part of an initiative to bring memory into public space.

At its heart, MOMENTOUS is about the small, quiet moments that shape a life, intimacy, longing, migration, commitment, and how we carry them forward. It’s a book about looking back, in order to keep something alive.