Cockfights

On the series

Inside the sweltering wooden arena of a provincial cockpit, the air vibrates with shouted bets and the rustle of peso notes waved like flags. In the center, two gamecocks become a blur of iridescent feathers and slashing steel gaffs, their handlers crouched inches away, urging them on with practiced, almost tender intensity. I have framed the moments just before the release-the birds held chest-to-chest, eyes wild, combs flushed-and the sudden stillness after, when a victor is lifted, bloodied and panting, into the arms of its owner. The crowd’s roar is immediate, primal, and entirely consuming.

Yet sabong, as Filipinos call it, is far more than spectacle. It is a centuries-old social institution woven into rural life, where men gather not only to gamble but to measure luck, reputation, and the fierce bond between bird and breeder. I have photographed families who raise fighting cocks with the same devotion others give to racehorses, feeding them, massaging their legs, and isolating them in woven baskets before dawn. Through my lens, the cockpit becomes a stage for both cruelty and devotion, a place where beauty, violence, and belonging collide in ways that resist easy judgment.

Available as 1/1sEach photograph in this Philippines series is released as a one-of-one NFT. View and collect the Spirit of Philippines Collection on OpenSea.