Written during brief writing/art sessions embedded in two-hour visits organized by the small press Paper Trail Projects and the food sovereignty advocacy group Good Food Community, these texts attest to the profuse creativity and profound moral clarity that unjust incarceration cannot extinguish. These women are activists, community organizers, and NGO workers. Detained on false charges and deprived of due process, they are denied freedom by a state that sees their defense of human rights and struggle on the people’s behalf as a threat to its own interests.

All of them are accused of crimes that are non-bailable - illegal possession of firearms and explosives, terrorism, murder - and when convicted would earn them sentences of up to forty years. Some would be set free for good behavior and active participation in rehabilitation programs, while others would have their cases dismissed when they finally have their cases heard in court. Since our writing/art sessions with them began late 2024, three of them had been set free, all after spending more than a decade in prison, their cases dismissed. A cause for brief joy because they were simply replaced by almost double the number of new detainees. Those new detainees also have work included in this folio.

The contents of this folio are proof that before we change the world anew, we must first dream of that new world; and to actually change the world anew, we must act. The contents of this folio show how sudden one’s life can change merely for believing and fighting for a better world. The contents of this folio share with us a glimpse of their lives behind bars, how humbling and lonely it can be, and how ordinary and mundane, and how even there they find poetry. Here are their names:

Teresita Abarratigue

Jenny Ann. G. Bautista

Felicidad L. Caparal

Marites Coseñas

Cleofe R. Lagtapon

Marilyn Magpatoc

Glendhyl Malabanan

Alex Pacalda

Ronces Paragoso

Jean O. Publico

Ma. Salome Crisostomo-Ujano

The contents of this folio show that even as they are forcibly removed from society and subjected to a violent form of erasure, these women possess a spirit too strong to buckle under sorrow and weariness, a commitment too unwavering to abandon hope for a future that returns them to the communities they serve.

Edited and translated by to English by Conchitina Cruz and Adam David

Sessions facilitated with Mabi David and Karize Uy

Sketches by Josel Nicolas and Apol Sta. Maria