One of the Philippines’ biggest labor export, 85% of all those trained in the country work overseas. As more Filipinos aspire to leave in pursuit of better opportunities, we ask :

“What does it mean to leave your country?’

Working with ideas of visual ethnography, Fernandez collaborated with NHS nurses Joane Perez, and Ina Granados, giving them a camera to document their daily lives- small everyday activities at home and at work. Fernandez also documents the process of growing vegetables in a patch of land allocated specifically for the Filipino nursing community within a walled garden. Growing food situates us in a particular locality, and makes labor visible, planting seeds of self-sufficiency and sustainability, blurring the boundaries between life and art.

The short film is narrated by a poem written by Romalyn Ante, a nurse turned poet.