In developing her films and video installations, Martha Atienza engages in a process that has a sociological dimension, investigating the potential of contemporary art as a tool for affecting social change and development. Atienza grounds her practice in her home on Bantayan Island in the Philippines, working from within her local community and initiating dialogue on the impacts of climate change. Atienza received her bachelor’s in fine arts from the Academy of Visual Arts and Design in the Netherlands. She also won the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel for her seminal work Our Islands (2017) and was also awarded the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artist Award (2015).

Referring to a thermodynamic equation that calculates the relationship between variables and a given set of physical conditions, Equation of State (2019/2024) addresses the questions surrounding the ownership and privatization of Bantayan Island’s land and coastline in the context of rising water temperatures and sea levels. Fundamental to the island’s ecology are the mangrove plants which populate the brackish, tidal waters of the coast but are threatened by development. Twenty-four such mangrove trees form the centerpiece of the installation and are shown suspended from the ceiling over a long basin of water. The plants are raised and lowered into the water by automated, randomized winches, so that their roots are submerged in a rhythm mimicking the tides. On view in Diriyah is a streamlined version of the initial construction, which was built using found materials and programmed with an Arduino mechanism. Highlighting the function of the mangroves, the work is also a statement on human interference and control of these natural protectors of the shoreline.

Installed nearby, two silent films focus on the human inhabitants of the island. One, shot in black-and-white, traces the decay of Bantayan’s coastal communities, which face both existential and legislative threats to their livelihoods and way of life. The other, shown on three screens, portrays three fishermen, silently submerging and reemerging from the water as they look into the camera—portraits of survival and resilience. Equation of State was created in 2019, the same year that Congress of the Philippines voted to withdraw Bantayan Island’s Wilderness Status. The question Atienza ultimately asks: Who has control over the future of the island and its residents?