In the Silverlens New York Viewing Room, conceptualist Poklong Anading presents deep in the shallows, afloat in the depths (lumalalim sa kababawan, lumulutang sa kalaliman). Marking the artist’s first U.S. solo exhibition, the show features a new sculpture and video installation that reflects on humanity’s impact on marine ecosystems and the possibilities of both damage and renewal. Anading’s exhibition will be on view from May 8 – June 21, 2025.

Here, Anading expands upon a series started during his stay at the Lubi Art Residency in Kopiat Island, Davao de Oro, Philippines. The residency encourages artists to use and upcycle indigenous raw materials found exclusively on the island, which is revered for its biodiversity. Anading was guided by the diving community’s ethos, Every dive is a clean-up dive. He observed not only marine life but debris that drifted through the water. One particular sight startled him: an abandoned fishnet, entangled in coral reefs. He learned that private beach resorts once installed these nets to protect coastal waters from debris. Yet, without proper maintenance, they became “part of the very problem they were designed to prevent,” notes Anading. As they tangled, frayed, and deteriorated over time, their fragments gradually damaged the island’s rich marine biodiversity and delicate reef ecosystems. 

Titled recruit (no. 2), the piece on view at Silverlens New York centers on found ghost nets recovered by Anading and a team of Davao Gulf Divers, led by Master Diver Iñigo Taojo. The artist reimagines the net into a monumental sculpture installed in the heart of the gallery. Reshaped to resemble coral, these once-destructive objects become symbols of regeneration. In this gesture, Anading pointedly echoes Marshall McLuhan’s concept that “the medium is the message”: the nets retain the memory of their past harm while embodying the resilience of the marine life they once imperiled. A video component behind the sculpture documents reef rehabilitation efforts and honors the divers who aided in the net retrieval, underscoring Anading’s belief in the power of collective action in the urgent work of ecological care. The titular ‘recruit’ draws from the term used by divers to describe coral larvae that settle on submerged structures—signaling both natural renewal and the growing scope of the artist’s ongoing project. 

Anading’s work has the possibility to move audiences to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of their relationship with the ocean. He builds on his long-standing fascination with found and discarded objects, and what they reveal about humanity’s connection to the natural world.

Poklong Anading (b. 1975, Manila, Philippines; lives and works in Manila) works with a wide range of mediums and is acclaimed for his pieces that investigate photography and travel. Fascinated with the process of creation and permutation, Anading explores different mediums to engage with a range of sociopolitical and environmental questions. He frequently uses found objects and discarded materials that lead him to investigate notions of worth and value, and to explore what it means for art to exist inside and beyond capitalist production. He has been included in notable group exhibitions such as: Art Week Tokyo, Okura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (2024); Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai 2023: The Open World, Chiang Rai, Thailand (2023); Parallel Histories; Moving Images, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila, the Philippines (2023); Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore (2022); and Constellations, Photographs in Dialogue, SFMOMA, California, USA (2021).