It's Sunday again, and Takana Merkazit is busied with many migrant workers, many of whom are Filipinos, who work as caregivers for the elderly in Israel. It must have been just a typical day for a regular Filipino immigrant, but in the eyes of Koken Ergun, its social and cultural imprint manifested a deeper sense, a soul of a nation.

It all started when Koken, a young Turkish artist, writer and director, now a resident of Berlin, Germany got dazzled by a poster of Filipino beauty contests in Takana Merkazit, Tel-Aviv. There had been contests of the same designation but this one is categorized ethnologically special in a way that it represented the social life diversity of the Filipino community. Through this young man's in-depth inquiry, dynamic interaction with Filipino beauty contestants and organizers, keen emotional immersion, a light yet sensitive, dynamic yet realistic film documentation was produced.

Koken Ergun laboured 6 months to finish a documentation of the lives specifically of the young contestants of the Binibining Pilipinas Israel in the year 2009-2010. As part of the detailed chronicle, film interviews and photos were gathered to expose the staging that occurs on and offstage of the pageant.

I. Interview with Mary Lou Sulit Muga, Filipina caregiver in Israel




















II. Interview with Doda Lina, previous “treasurer” of FFCI (Federation of Filipino Communities in Israel) in 2010





















III. Interview with Charlene James Dandan, organizer of Binibining Pilipinas Israel, March 2010














The first exhibition was held in Poland during the Alternativa International - Contemporary Visual Arts Festival, where the film of the pageant was shown together with the interviews of Mary Lou Sulit Muga, Doda Lina (FFCI officer) and Charlene James Dandan (organizer of Binibining Pilipinas Israel). An additional exposition of Filipino local magazines in Israel (Focal, Manila Tel-Aviv, Kapamilya) were featured, as well. This was followed by the same spectacle in Kunsthalle Winterthur Exhibition held in Zurich, Switzerland. 

























An ongoing exhibition is held at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. This was attended by Europeans, Filipino workers, patriots, dignitaries and consuls of the Philippines Embassy in France. The exhibit will be shown until the 26th of August (2012). Palais de Tokyo, by the way, is considered as Europe's largest contemporary arts center. It was reopened to the public last April 20, 2012, after a ten-month renovation, marking its 10th anniversary with a 28-hour nonstop event that included performances, live music, videos, lectures, and art installations.

Palais deTtokyo from the river side

the line outside Palais de Tokyo during opening day

the names of the filipinos (from left to right) : Jo Castillo,Vilma Lerit, Mary Grace Sicam, Angie Lucas, Lito Gomez, Rina Gomez, Devine Luana

names from left to right :  Vilma Lerit, Jo Castillo, Koken Ergun, Rina Gomez, Devine Luana, Angie Lucas

French actress Clementine Beart

In addition to Koken Ergun's involvement with the Filipino community, we may find valuable collections of projects on different ethnic culture and social groups like the Caferi Tribes. They could be found in Istanbul, in the eastern border town of Igdir. Their preparation for the Ashura Day in 2010 (commemoration of the martyrdom Shiite Muslim prophet, Husayn ibn Ali), which comes into a reenactment film, was documented by Koken as well and exhibited in Switzerland.

He also made a research and film documentation on wedding ceremonies of Turkish and Kurdish immigrants in Berlin. His emotional involvement in this project led him to turn this research into a PhD thesis, entitled: "Rituals of Isolation: Emotional Bonding in Wedding Ceremonies of the Turkish-German Society in Berlin". 

An intense and sensitive involvement with the exposition of Palestinian life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is worth mentioning. The video archives exhibited in his projects are not his own production but a collection of the footage taken by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem in Hebron. 

I must agree hundred percent when Koken told me he regarded himself as a messenger. My assumption is more than that, as I see him as a bridge and mediator of diverse political and cultural ethnicity. He is the light that gives illumination and distinction of the different cultural backgrounds without being bias and whose focus is on the essence of each society. In Koken Ergun's eyes we have found a special, subtle yet profound annotation of the  Filipino caregivers in Israel, that is something to be proud of. I salute to you!
　
　
　

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