Kababayan: From the Philippines to New Zealand, through a garden

When I stepped into Abigail Legg's first solo exhibition, Kababayan, it did not immediately feel like entering a gallery. It felt like I had walked into a family home - the kind where stories spill across generations without anyone meaning to tell them.

The exhibition centres on Legg's titas (aunties in Tagalog)- Editha, Tacy, Rosita, Emerita, Venus, Maribelle and her mother – Elizabeth. Seven Filipino women who migrated to New Zealand and built lives here while holding onto parts of home through food, language, gardening, and each other.

Her mother Elizabeth grows orchids. Aunty Venus tends to a calamansi tree. Bitter melon climbs through a greenhouse. Gardening tools sit beside gumboots and flower pots balanced on wooden pallets. The photographs pay attention to these ordinary details and the lives built around them.

In Tagalog, kababayan translates to "fellow countryman" - used for people who share the same homeland or community. The word carries warmth and obligation at once. So does this exhibition.

Legg's work is rooted in the Filipino tradition of mano po — a gesture where younger generations greet their elders with respect and receive a blessing in return. For Legg, photography becomes that gesture. The gardens are not incidental. She grew up in them, nurtured by these women, learning that the door is always open, a hot drink will be offered, and no one should ever go home empty-handed.

Legg (in photo) grew up in Feilding, Manawatū, where her mother was among the early Filipina migrants to arrive in the 1980s. She now lives and works in Wellington as a photographer, gardener, and seed saver. The project began in 2023, after she read Through Shaded Glass by Lissa Mitchell, a book examining women's contribution to photography.

"It made me reflect on my own roots and how rarely we talk about immigrant women shaping communities in completely new countries," she said.

One day she looked at her mother's garden - the gumboots, the orchid pots, the tools left out - and realised this is what an immigrant’s home looks like –“Where everything is everywhere!” she chuckled.

That became the starting point.

She reached out to the women who had looked after her as a child when her mother was busy, gathered for meals with her family, and stayed close to her mother over the decades. The process was slow and conversational. Legg spent time in gardens she had once played in, photographing her aunties while they worked and asking them what they were growing, why they chose certain plants, what knowledge they had carried with them from the Philippines.

In photo are Abigail's family and family friends that are a part of the community she is photographing. "A few out of the hundreds!" she said. Image Credit - Abigail

"This is my attempt to connect with my identity, my whakapapa, and celebrate their work in building this community," she said.

Legg shot the entire project on a Bronica ETRSii medium-format camera with Kodak Portra 400 film — 15 frames per roll.

"When you're restricted to 15 shots, it slows you down and gives you time to really engage with the frame," she said.

That slowness shows. The photographs feel intentional and taken with care.

Members of the PCA Rondalla Band at the opening of the exhibition. Image Credit - Abigail

The exhibition also marks the curatorial debut of Russell Kleyn, a photographer with more than 30 years of experience who mentored Legg throughout the project. He described his role as creating space rather than directing.

Although Legg is originally from Manawatū, the decision to show at Twentysix Gallery was deliberate, he said. "Abigail lives in this suburb and it is remarkable to have her first show in the same suburb where she lives," he said. "The gallery has also been an excellent support system for artists in the community."

"This project exemplifies generosity," he said. "There's the generosity of the aunties who contributed to it and what the project taught me about mentorship."

Legg self-funded the exhibition through her own gardening work - saving seeds, growing plants, and selling them on Instagram. That connection between land, labour, and community runs through everything here.

What also caught my attention was a comment on TwentySix Gallery Instagram page that shared Legg's work. Belinda commented - "idk what it is but the shrub is very feilding!". And it felt like such a curious example of what this exhibitionstood for - representing the Fillipino roots and tradition, in a very New Zealand vibes.

Editha, who was at the opening night said she was proud of Abigail and her project. "In the first instance that she asked me about posing for the photographs, I agreed. There was no way we would say no to Abigail," she said.

What also caught my attention was a comment on Twentysix Gallery's Instagram page after they shared Legg's work. Belinda wrote: "idk what it is but the shrub is very Feilding!" It is a small thing, but it felt like exactly what this exhibition stands for - Filipino roots and tradition, expressed in a way that is unmistakably New Zealand.

As an immigrant myself, I was not prepared for how familiar it would feel. Not the Filipino specifics, but the deeper pattern underneath - the gardens, the shared meals, the quiet effort to hold onto something while building something new. I recognised it. I think a lot of people will.

 -Asia Media Centre

Kababayan runs at Twentysix Gallery in Wellington until 6 June 2026.