The anchors of my days. The teachers, co-travelers, family, and kindred spirits who make this slow life possible.
6 portraits
Anya
Sister & Anchor
My partner in quiet afternoons and the first person to read my unpolished essays. She has spent a lifetime teaching me how to look at trees, and her home in Baguio is where most of my journals find their ends.
Marcus
Old Friend
We met in a second-hand bookstore along Escolta five years ago, both reaching for the same worn copy of Calvino. He carries a quiet wisdom and is the only person who can match my long silences.
Lola Elena
Grandmother
The source of the patient kitchen rituals in this archive. Her hands have peeled a thousand mangoes, and her stories about old Manila in the fifties are the threads that bind my sense of place.
Thomas
Travel Companion
My companion across the cobblestones of Lisbon and the mist of Kyoto. Thomas is an architect who measures the world in light and shadow, reminding me that the best spaces are those we leave empty.
Sari
Atelier Partner
A ceramicist who lives by the patience of the wheel. Her studio is a sanctuary of wet clay and cold tea, where we talk about how things of utility can also carry the spirit of the maker.
Mateo
Mentee
A bright spark navigating the digital rush with a vintage film camera. Teaching him darkroom printing has reminded me of the sheer joy of watching a memory slowly bloom in the chemical bath.
Life of Cai — a personal archive
About Cai