ARTIST ERIKA ISLETA CHAMPIONS WEST PHILIPPINE SEA CAUSE THROUGH “THE GRIM REEFER”

PRESS RELEASE
WDC-63-2025

19 September 2025

Embassy Press and Information Section

info@phembassy-us.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The rich marine biodiversity of the West Philippine Sea – and the imminent threats to it – took center stage in “The Grim Reefer”, an art installation almost entirely in crochet by young Filipino artist and advocate Erika Isleta.

During a virtual chat with the Embassy on 18 September 2025 entitled “Creating A Sea Change”, Erika shared that the installation, her thesis at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Fine Arts, was out of her usual medium of painting:  “I just wanted to bring us to the bottom of the ocean because “out of sight, out of mind” most of the time. I wanted us to be in the shoes of the corals.” 

The artwork was dynamic by design. It reached 5 feet in height in some parts, with hard corals and other marine life depicted through the softness of crochet. It took up an entire classroom, required many bulk orders of yarn, and relied on the efforts of an army of friends and volunteers – including her father, who helped build the underlying structure.

Among its intricately crocheted details, “The Grim Reefer” prominently featured the giant clam, whose illegal harvesting by Chinese fishermen has caused great damage to the undersea ecosystem in the West Philippine Sea.

Erika partly credits the UP culture of activism for pushing her to speak on issues close to her. But one of her main inspirations was closer to home: her grandfather, former Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario,. She says his firm stance on the Philippines’ maritime disputes was both scary and inspiring. 

“He was very quick to counter things if he thought it was not right. Even if there were consequences, he would make sure to defend the Filipino people no matter what,” she said of the Secretary’s time in government service.

While she recalls Secretary del Rosario as a hardworking and brave diplomat, Erika remembers her loving “Grumpa” as a family man first.  “He always taught us that hard work was the most important thing, alongside integrity.” She and her family remain immensely proud, with a welcome banner from his first official travel as Secretary – during the Middle East crises in 2011 – still up to this day.

Having recently defended her thesis and graduated from college, Erika treasures the opportunity to shed light on issues close to her. She believes art and artists have a role to play in diplomacy and advocacy. 

“Art is universal and it transcends all cultures and languages. Everyone has a right to create, and as long as you do it with care and discernment, it can play a huge role, especially with upcoming artists who are feeling really strongly about what is going on,” she said. 

“The Grim Reefer” is Erika’s most ambitious work to date, but it was not her first foray into marine issues through art: she had previously produced a series of paintings featuring the West Philippine Sea in her third year of college. The series, along with Erika’s other works of art, remain alive on her artist Instagram account, @s0larisart.

“Creating A Sea Change” was part of the Embassy’s monthlong celebration of Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) this September. For more resources on MANA Mo, please visit https://sites.google.com/dfa.gov.ph/manamo/.###