Events

[ART] The subject of this art show is as creepy as it gets. Photographer Mark Thomas Duggan spent one year in the Manila North Cemetery in the Philippines. If that sounds like a long time to spend in a cemetery, know that an entire community of living people live in this cemetery, permanently. Though Manila is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, there’s also a serious housing shortage, which is forcing folks to find shelter and protection from the harsh streets in unusual places. “The ten foot walls of the Manila North Cemetery provide families with a peaceful, spacious, relatively clean haven from the comparatively dangerous, deafening, filthy, teeming city outside. Mausoleums are converted into homes and store fronts. Depending on time of day, crypts serve as either dining spaces or beds. Small roads where funeral processions go by in the morning later transform into busy avenues where adults imbibe and kids play basketball at night,” reads a press release for Duggan’s show. Duggan traveled to Manila as part of a team of volunteers who assisted in creating food and skills based programs. The Buffalo artist used his opportunity to capture at least a flicker of what life is like inside the Manila North Cemetery. His show, Necropolis Metropolis: Photography by Mark Thomas Duggan opens on Thursday, September 1 at Sugar City. The exhibit will be on display through September 25.