BAGUIO CITY (5 Dec) – Twenty two Baguio based Cordillera athletes are featured in a solo exhibit at the Porta Vaga Mall here.

The Bodies in Motion show of professional photographer Elisa Consul opened last December 1 just as Baguio opened its toned down Christmas in Baguio celebration showcase Cordillera athletes in various poses that accentuate their muscle and power that propelled them to medal wins in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

It is the culmination of more than eight month work for Consul who started taking photos of the athletes since July last year after Jeordan Dominguez won the bronze medal in the World Taekwondo Poomsae in June also last year in Italy.

From there, Consul worked on the photos of muay thai waikru representatives Jearome Calica and Rusha Bayacsan before they competed in the SEAG.

Photoshoots continued by January this year until March for the supposed opening during the Cordillera Administrative region Athletic Association, which was cancelled after the sports meet was cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Consul’s shot include arnisadors and gold medal winners Crisamuel Delfin, Elmer Manlapas and Abegail Abad and Eza Rai Yalong (bronze, arnis), Stephanie Sabalo (dancesport), kickboxers Gina Iniong – Araos, Jean Claude Saclag and Jerry Olsim (gold) and Jomar Balangui (silver), muay thai warriors Islay Erika Bomogao and Jenelyn Olsim, wushu sanda gold medalist Divine Wally, wushu taolu’s Daniel Parantac and Jones Inso, obstacle course race gold medal winner Sandi Menchi Abahan and sambo gold medal winner Mark Striegl.

Visual artist and mural painter Venzair Martinez, who played taekwondo varsity at the University of the Philippines – Baguio was also part of the original photos which were shown in the IP Month Heroes SEAGames photo exhibit at the Baguio City Hall last October.

Four more athletes, three SEAG medal winners – Leeariel lampacan (gold, muaythai), Ariel Mayag-as (bronze, muaythai) and Gideon Fred Padua (silver, wushu) – and young wushu taolu player Jherisse Athena Calica are the last batch to complete the collection.

Calica is the seven year old daughter of muaythai gold medalist Jearome, who also taught her the basics of the sport. The older Calica won a gold medal in the 2001 SEAG in wushu sanda.

Consul said that the photo collection tries to capture “the grace and power of the Cordilleran Athletes” and it will run until January 31 next year.