At Gravity Art Space in Manila, viewers are drawn into a world of flame and regeneration through Isola Tong’s solo exhibition, Bruha ng Disyerto: Landscapes of Fire. Running until 14 February 2025, the show by the Filipino interdisciplinary artist offers a profound meditation on the intersections of ecology, queerness, and postcolonial histories, using fire as both a literal and metaphorical force. Through sculptures, installations, and traditional craft techniques, Tong weaves narratives of destruction and renewal, inviting audiences to reconsider their relationship with the land and its layered histories.
Born in 1987, Tong has carved a niche as a research-based artist whose work spans sculpture, performance, and community collaboration. With an MFA in environmental art and social practice from the University of California, Santa Cruz, she brings a global perspective to her practice, often drawing from personal experiences of landscapes scarred by wildfires in California and the Philippines. “I don’t know why I keep thinking about fire—about pyromes, fire biomes, ecosystems shaped and scorched by flames. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen with my naked eyes the devastation,” Tong reflects in a conversation with curator Kevin Corcoran.
At the heart of Bruha ng Disyerto—which translates to “Witch of the Desert”—is Tong’s exploration of fire’s dual nature. Her works, such as Pugad (Nest A), crafted from rattan, abaca, and pine needles sourced from Baguio in the Philippines, evoke a sense of fragility and resilience. The piece, with its variable dimensions, mirrors the precarious balance of ecosystems shaped by flame, while also hinting at nests as spaces of refuge and rebirth. Similarly, Benguet Fire, a pyrography on banig (a traditional woven mat) combined with textile and acrylic, captures the searing impact of fire on both land and cultural memory. 
Tong’s fascination with fire is deeply personal. She draws from her time in the Mojave Desert, where she encountered petroglyphs and land formations like the Cima Dome, a site where wildfires have devastated over 800,000 Joshua trees. Her exhibition notes, poignantly titled “Their Blackened Arms Still Rise Skyward as if in Surrender,” reflect on this loss, while also critiquing historical disruptions caused by colonial powers. As the exhibition text from Gravity Art Space explains, Tong sees the “estrangement of people and (agri)cultural practices from the land” as a legacy of colonial forestry policies under Spain and the United States in the Philippines, and similar impositions in the American West.
Tong’s storytelling extends beyond the visual, incorporating mythologies that resonate with her themes of survival and transformation. In her exhibition, she reinterprets the Chemehuevi creation myth of Coyote and Wolf, a narrative from the Indigenous people of the Mojave Desert. As recounted in her notes, Coyote receives a basket from Old Woman containing people. When opened in the desert, the people scatter, leaving behind the broken and crushed at the bottom of the basket. Rather than abandoning them, Coyote seeks Wolf’s aid, who heals these forgotten individuals and teaches them to thrive in the harsh environment.
For Tong, this story becomes a powerful metaphor for resilience. She reimagines Old Woman as a “trans creatrix who births new worlds and nurtures new life,” while the basket transforms into what she calls “Bayotic Refugia.” This term, a fusion of the Bisayan word “bayot” (meaning queer or femme) and “biota” (the collective flora and fauna of a region), encapsulates her vision of refuge for the marginalised—spaces where brokenness can heal amidst oppressive conditions. Her piece Sanga, made of rattan and ink, embodies this concept, its elongated form suggesting both a vessel and a protective enclosure.
Central to Tong’s practice is her use of traditional craft, particularly basketry, as a medium for storytelling. Collaborating with communities, she integrates materials like ash and charred remnants into her works, creating pieces that speak to ecological justice and kinship. This approach not only preserves cultural techniques but also reframes them as acts of resistance against the erasure of Indigenous and local knowledge. In the context of the Philippines, where colonial histories have often disrupted traditional land practices, her art serves as a reminder of what has been lost—and what can still be reclaimed.
Tong also connects her work to broader environmental crises. The wildfires in California, which have displaced communities and reshaped landscapes, are a recurring motif, paralleled by similar challenges in the Philippines, where deforestation and climate change exacerbate fire risks. Her art does not shy away from these harsh realities but instead seeks to find hope within them, positioning fire as a catalyst for regeneration as much as destruction.
Bruha ng Disyerto is more than an exhibition; it is a call to reconnect with the land and its stories. Tong challenges viewers to see beyond the scorched earth, to recognise the resilience of communities and ecosystems that endure despite adversity. Her work speaks to a global audience, resonating with anyone who has witnessed environmental loss or grappled with the legacies of colonialism and marginalisation.
As the exhibition draws to a close in Manila, it leaves a lasting impression of fire not just as a force of devastation, but as a symbol of transformation. Through her intricate installations and poignant narratives, Isola Tong invites us to imagine new refugia—spaces of healing and renewal in a world too often defined by rupture. For those in Manila, a visit to Gravity Art Space before 14 February offers a chance to engage with an artist whose vision burns brightly, illuminating the complex ties between ecology, identity, and history.
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