Book release Tokhang- The Philippine Drug War

Olof Jarlbro: Tokhang

Rough Dog Press

Friday 21st, May, 4:30 – 8:00 PM

Address: Fågelsångsgatan 10, Helsingborg, Sweden

Projektrum HJÄRNE begins to open this spring with an updated and urgent book release – Tokhang – by documentary photographer Olof Jarlbro, originally from Helsingborg, Sweden

“Tokhang” is translated in Tagalog roughly with “approach and talk” and has become a word synonymous with the administration of the Philippine President Duterte and his war on drugs. A war that has claimed tens of thousands of victims with death patrols and summary executions and received criticism from human rights organizations around the world. Jarlbro portrays humanly and with a strong presence this “war on drugs” in the megacity of Manila. He goes to areas where few journalists can usually get to. He witnesses the results and the victims of the police executions, but also seeks out the victims’ relatives to get answers. A story that the war is mainly a war against the poor part of the population where the results of the police war are presented as successes in the media.

Jarlbro’s work often captures the connections between regional conflicts as a consequence of global structures. One of Jarlbro’s absolute strengths is that in his photographs he comes close to the core of the story and the people who have often been trapped due to war and / or poverty, while the photographs together tell of major events in a global context that in the end we are also a part of – and is responsible for.

About the photographer Olof Jarlbro: Born 1978, Helsingborg, Sweden. Studied photojournalism at the International Center of Photography, New York, and at The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He has previously released photographic documentaries such as The Falling Kingdom, Stonefactory, Nepal & Mao, Syria: The War Within and Refuge. More info at www.jarlbro.com