Made in the Philippines
Shirts, men. Color: white, brown, grey. Edition: 70 pcs./color, 2008
“Made in the Philippines” highlights issues of commodity fetishism by redefining the oft-obscured relationship between labour and commodity. I attempted to make the production process transparent and relate it to wider trade perspectives within a global context. The shirts were manufactured in a free trade zone, located in Rosario, Cavite. In April 2008, I spent a month there to document the production of the shirts in the factory and the living conditions of the laborers with 36 videos. It is a portrait of the workers, the factory and the urban situation in relation to the free trade zone, ten years after Naomi Klein researched Rosario for her book NO LOGO. Fleischmann revisited all the sites and people in Rosario that appear in NO LOGO. You may watch interviews with Cecile Tuico from the Workers Assistance Center or Mayor Nonong Ricafrente, referenced in the “The Unbearable Lightness of Cavite” chapter of Klein’s book.