Felix Mago Miguel began his Album series five years ago as a meditation on Philippine history, identity, and nationhood. Inspired by Jose Rizal’s annotation of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, the series revisits the past while asking how stories shape our present.

The first body, Album: Filipinas, reimagined photographs of anonymous women from the Spanish colonial period, presenting them as personas of the nation: strong, intelligent, enduring. This was followed by Album: Walang Sugat, drawn from Severino Reyes’s 1898 sarsuwela, censored by the American colonial government for its revolutionary spirit.

The newest installment, Album: Lupang Hinirang, shifts to the present, when Filipinos themselves write the nation’s story. Here, Miguel explores portraiture through the language of “selfies,” symbols of both memory and self-expression. Divided into three parts—Hayop Ka! (Wall of Shame), Sabungan, and Necrosis—the works address corruption, political spectacle, and cultural decay, while also offering reflection and hope.

Miguel’s images act as mirrors, prompting us to ask: who are we as a people, and where is our story headed? By weaving history, symbolism, and contemporary culture, Album continues to be his visual dialogue with nationhood, memory, and the ongoing struggle for integrity in public and private life. Collectors and institutions have consistently sought out Miguel’s Album works for their daring vision and cultural resonance, recognizing them as essential contributions to contemporary Philippine art. This newest chapter, Lupang Hinirang, strengthens that trajectory, presenting pieces that will endure as touchstones in the discourse of nationhood and identity.