Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

“It is a record of what Marawi looked before the government completes the rebuilding of the city. My first in Marawi was at the height of the siege when my husband & I brought blankets and mats to displaced residents in the evacuation centers. We also brought socks and underwear for soldiers and policemen.” ~Former journalist Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photo Exhibit will make you revisit the tragic backstory of the Maranaos featuring the heart-tugging photos of the Marawi siege aftermath immortalized by Former journalist Mylah Reyes Roque, wife of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who now works with PAG-IBIG fund, one of the government's key shelter agencies. during their official visits to Marawi.

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Mrs. Roque takes on a personal mission to capture and record the memories in Marawi City after the devastating war and just before the government completes its full refurbishments. To let the rest of the country understand the current challenges faced by Filipino Muslims in Mindanao.

Mrs. Roque's first visit in Marawi was at the height of the siege when her husband brought blankets and mats to displaced residents in the evacuation centers. They also brought socks and underwear for soldiers and policemen. On her second visit was with Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG officers to provide housing assistance to affected employees of Mindanao State University. and on her third visit was with Cielito “Honeylet” Avancena, President Rodrigo Duterte’s common-law wife, and the Du30 Cabinet Spouses Association. They distributed cash assistance and relief goods to the women of Marawi.

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

This photo was taken a year after the siege, on the third level of the mosque. Task Force Bangon Marawi will rehabilitate the grand mosque, following pledges of support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates.

The Philippine flag is planted near the dome of Marawi's iconic Islamic Center.

Bato Mosque is historically significant to the Maranao. It served as the last stronghold of the rebels.

Bato Mosque

Located in Mapandi bride, Mapandi mosque is one of the many smaller mosques or masjids in the area. A Maranao explained that Muslims pray five times a day, so it is common practice for families to build easily accessible mosques near their homes.

Mapandi Mosque

Marawi is officially known as the Islamic City of Marawi, and its grand mosque - the city's icon - is referred to by the locals simply as the Islamic Center.

The exhibition explores the aftermath of the Marawi siege with a collection of photos taken at ground zero a year after the siege ended. There are many narratives from and of Marawi. This one is a story about the aftermath of human conflict but there are no people or guns in the pictures. The story is narrated through images of buildings that are deserted but still speak of the community that used to make it alive. The exhibit memorializes a vanishing landscape and attempts to engage viewers to provoke a greater understanding of the conflict.

The Osmena Street, which used to be a busy two-way commercial street that was home to the Marawi Doctor's Maternity, Medical and Children's Clinic, as well as shops selling hijabs and care accessories.

Osmena Street

The Agus River separates the battle are from the safe zone in Marawi.

This is Quezon Avenue. Rizal Park is located towards the left. Dr. Jose P. Rizal's bust can no longer be found.

Marawi is a city whose landscape is packed with mosques. The mosque view is taken from the second floor of another mosque.

The Islamic Center uses a modern sound system on its third floor to broadcast its call to prayer. The sound system was not spared from the shelling.

The Islamic Center's minarest has some damage from the shelling but is otherwise upright. From the minaret, the call to prayer is made five times a day.

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Residents spray-painted their names on their homes to mark their ownership. The expansive devastation caused by the Marawi siege — bullet-riddled mosques and cathedrals, crushed commercial and residential buildings and wrecked bridges and roads.

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

This is Mapandi Bridge, one of the three bridges approaching the main battle area that the military locked down. The Most Affected Areas (MAA) cannot be entered. This was an important bridge because it was the military's main supply route. Thirteen soldiers died here on June 9, 2017, as they fought to recover the area from the Maute Group

Mapandi Bridge

There are two big mosques within the most-affected areas (MAA), but there are some smaller mosques or masjids in almost every road. 

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

The Al-Farabi International Academy, Inc. bears marks of the siege. It is located along with the rotunda in the pumping area, near one of the three bridges that connect the battle area from the safe zone.

The Al-Farabi International Academy, Inc.

The sign of the four-story Marawi Doctors' Maternity, Medical and Children's Clinic lie on the ground. The city residents prefer to go to a private hospital for minor and regular medical consultations rather than the Amai Pakpak Medical Center, which was bigger but a bit farther. Around the hospital are structures that looked like residential houses but were actually business establishments. It was common for Maranao to hold their business on the ground floor and live on the upper floor.

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

"Bombang hindi sumabog" or unexploded ordnance (UXO). This is Menor Street, the road where the Islamic Center or Grand Mosque is located. Task Force Bangon Marawi allowed the city's residents to see their homes a year after the siege after officials felt comfortable enough that they have cleared the place of UXOs.

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Catch the photo exhibit in the following SM Malls:

• Megamall (June 3 to June 11)
• Southmall (June 24 to 29)
• Sucat (July 22 to 28)
• Rosario (August 5 to 11)
• Telabastagan (August 25 to 31)

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Picturing Marawi Photographs by Mylah Reyes Roque

Generous support for "Picturing Marawi" has been provided by SM Supermalls, with help from the National Museum of the Philippines.