What does it really mean to be a solo mother, daughter, breadwinner, professional or caregiver? For TECNO and internationally acclaimed artist Angélica Dass, the answer cannot be captured by a single label.
That idea takes center stage in the Philippines chapter of 100 Portraits of Becoming, a two-year global documentary portrait project that celebrates people and the many stories that shape who they are.
TECNO and Angélica Dass have unveiled the Philippines portrait gallery, featuring 20 Filipinos whose lives intersect with solo motherhood in different ways. The collection is now part of TECNO’s global story archive and can be viewed through the Philippines gallery of 100 Portraits of Becoming.
The Philippines is the project’s second chapter following its successful launch in Kenya.
Seeing Beyond the Label
For the Philippine chapter, themed “See Beyond Labels,” Angélica Dass photographed 20 individuals in Manila whose lives intersect with solo motherhood in diverse ways.
The project looks beyond the title of “solo mom” to highlight the people behind it: their careers, families, relationships, ambitions, challenges and dreams.
It is a perspective that feels especially relevant in the Philippines, where family life often extends across generations and borders. According to publicly available data, the country has an estimated 14 to 15 million solo parents, with women accounting for about 95% of them. Meanwhile, an estimated 2.19 million Filipinos worked overseas in 2024, with women making up 57.2% of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Behind these numbers are millions of individual stories, each shaped by different circumstances and choices. This is the space that the Philippines chapter hopes to explore.
Captured using the CAMON Slim 5G with TECNO Universal Tone, the project also connects naturally with the smartphone’s “Make It Lighter” philosophy, using technology to make expressive photography feel more accessible, intuitive and open to more people.
The Stories Behind 20 Portraits
The 20 portraits bring the broader conversation to life through very personal stories of work, family, caregiving and becoming.
Some of the participants are working solo mothers themselves. Others are adults who were raised by solo mothers, members of multi-generational families, OFW caregivers, and media or community advocates who work closely with women and families.
Together, their stories challenge the tendency to let one label define an individual’s entire life or capability.
Their conversations explored questions surrounding work, family and identity. How does motherhood intersect with professional ambition? How do grown children raised in solo-parent families look back on their experiences? What kind of support, choices and personal wisdom help families navigate everyday life?
The answers reveal a more nuanced picture of modern family life. They show women building careers while raising children, families sharing caregiving responsibilities across generations, adults drawing strength from the mothers who raised them, and individuals continuing to pursue their own dreams.
Her Many Ways of Becoming
Among the 20 participants is Ely Haig, a solo working mother, breadwinner, advertising professional and competitive amateur padel player.
The Portrait of Ely Haig
Ely became a mother just as her career was taking off. For a time, she stepped back from opportunities and focused on taking care of everyone around her. Eventually, she found a different kind of diskarte: understanding what matters to her and finding ways to make room for her career, her daughter, side projects and padel.
“Being a good mother shouldn’t mean leaving yourself behind,” said Ely. “I want people to see more than a solo mom. A mother, yes, but also a creative, a career woman, an athlete, still becoming.”
The Portrait of Twinkle Dimayuga Zamora
Another participant, Twinkle Dimayuga Zamora, raised two children as a solo mother before turning her own experience into community support. She later founded MAMA, Mothers Advocating through Ministry and Action, an initiative supporting solo mothers and their children.
Her diskarte is rooted in knowing when to ask for help, communicating openly and building a village.
“Sometimes the strongest thing a mother can do is say, ‘I need help,’” she said.
The Portrait of Eunice N. Angeles
For Eunice N. Angeles, a fourth-year nursing student, the story is told from the perspective of someone who grew up with a solo mother who later became an OFW in Qatar.
Growing up, Eunice watched her mother continue to find opportunities and make difficult choices to create a better future for them both. That confidence and determination became qualities Eunice feels she inherited.
“I want people to see what I grew up with: confidence, determination and the courage to find my own way.”
These stories reflect different expressions of diskarte: the wisdom, resourcefulness and personal choices women draw on as they navigate life in their own way.
For Angélica Dass, the Philippines chapter offered an opportunity to move from a shared social experience to the individual lives within it.
Across the 20 portraits, she encountered different ambitions, relationships, personalities and ways of navigating everyday life.
“What stayed with me was the realization that ‘solo motherhood’ is only one part of a person’s identity. Through the stories shared with me and the moments we created during the portrait sessions, I was reminded that behind every label there is a person with their own ambitions, relationships, choices, and dreams. No single label can tell us everything about who someone is.”
To keep the portraits authentic, the images were photographed on location throughout Manila, in places connected to each participant’s everyday life. These included workplaces, family homes and familiar community spaces.
The creative approach leaves room for the details that make each person’s story unique: work, ambition, relationships, humor, daily routines and the small moments that often say more about a person than a single title ever could.
From Kenya to the Philippines and Beyond
All 20 portraits in the Philippines chapter were photographed by Angélica Dass using the TECNO CAMON Slim 5G, supported by TECNO Universal Tone technology.
Designed to more accurately represent a broad spectrum of human skin tones in mobile photography, TECNO Universal Tone supports the project’s wider message of seeing people as they are while paying greater attention to individuality.
“What moved us about the Philippines chapter was seeing how naturally motherhood, work, ambition and personal identity can coexist in the same life,” said Jack Guo, General Manager of TECNO. “We hope technology can play a small part in helping people be seen more fully, and their stories better understood.”
The Philippines is the second stop of 100 Portraits of Becoming, following the project’s launch in Kenya in July 2026.
Over two years, the initiative will bring together 100 portraits across multiple countries, creating a global archive of people, stories and possibilities.
In Kenya, the project explored how people move beyond inherited narratives about place and the future. In the Philippines, the focus turns toward family, identity and the many roles people carry, looking beyond the first label to the person, the people around her and who she is still becoming.
With the Philippines now joining the global archive, more portraits, stories and perspectives are still to come as 100 Portraits of Becoming continues its journey across more countries.
