Photo Exhibit gives Tribute to Upland Farmers

By the time that the friendly barista of Cordillera Coffee hands over your order of freshly brewed coffee, you have just experienced a hundred pages of rich coffee history.

The Philippines, being a coffee-drinking nation, is one of those countries which undergo the full process of coffee drinking - from its arduous production to its satisfactory consumption. Cordillera Coffee being dedicated on this cause, will hold a photo exhibit featuring the faces responsible for that rich and intense cup of coffee- the coffee farmers themselves. The exhibit is entitled, “Bin-i: Stories Behind Coffee”.

Coffee AID (Assistance for Indigenous Development), founded by Cordillera Coffee Company, is a non-profit organization that helps our coffee farmers in the interesting and intricate culture of coffee harvesting. Cordillera Coffee boasts of coffee beans directly harvested from the mountains of Cordillera. They believe that it is time to give something in return to those farmers who meticulously harvest coffee beans for us to enjoy in every cup.

Bin-i will showcase the works of Bicol-native photographers, Dennis Rito and Buck Pago. The exhibit will commence on December 16, 2007 at the Cordillera Coffee shop in SM Baguio at 5.30 p.m. Bin-i will be opened by Tomas Kilip, an agriculture consultant and Tommy Hafalla, a documentary-photographer. It will run until January 18, 2008.

The exhibit will highlight the people responsible for the best coffee in the Philippines, the coffee farmers, through the lens and artistic eyes of our very own celebrated photographers. Rito’s photographs are known for their candid quality while Pago’s (better known as the “nomadic” Buck) style borders more on political and human-nature themes. Both of the photographers are frequent participants in group exhibitions, national and international photo conferences with several commissioned works to boot. Rito is currently working on a photo essay and his previous works could be viewed at http://dsrito.multiply.com and Buck is incessantly working on his independent take on investigative photojournalism everywhere he goes. Samples of his works may be viewed at http://blackpago.blogspot.com.

The said event, among other socio-civic affairs conducted by Cordillera Coffee, aims to bring awareness to coffee-drinkers as to how coffee comes a stirringly long way before reaching our cups.

Bin-i: Stories Behind Coffee is also sponsored by Gallery 7 Digital Studio in partnership with Cordillera Coffee.