Manila Man
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Manila Man is an intermedia performance exploring Filipino history, provenance, and diaspora, and how these forces shape identity in a postcolonial world. As a live performance sequel to the quasi-documentary film The Last h’Api, it continues the story of a lost Philippine tribe that reemerges in 2024. Centered on Ru Lan—one of the “Manila Man” figures—who appears in New York’s Central Park, the work follows his disorientation in a rapidly changing global landscape amid ecological collapse. Guided by the shapeshifting Sigbin, he navigates questions of belonging, survival, and identity in an unfamiliar present.
About the Artist
Russ Ligtas is a Filipino multidisciplinary artist based in New York City whose practice spans performance, installation, sculpture, film, and 2D media. His work creates immersive experiences that explore identity and autobiography, shaped by ecological, historical, geopolitical, and mythological narratives. Central to his practice is the use of alter egos—archetypal “avatars” that embody shifting personas and serve as vehicles for examining a queer, postcolonial self in the Anthropocene. Since 2019, he has been collaborating with Taiwanese artist Szu-Ni Wen, developing works that engage with themes of territory, displacement, and geopolitical tension in relation to their respective homelands.
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