Makati takes its name from the Tagalog word for the river’s receding tide—an apt metaphor for the parts of the city that lie beneath its gleaming business district and affluent, gated enclaves. Between 2017 and 2023, street photographer Bernardo Bacosa walked these outer barangays along the Pasig River, bearing witness to lives often eclipsed by the city’s wealth.

The photographs in this book are not statistical reports; instead, they reveal, in vivid moments, how ordinary people navigate an urban landscape at low ebb. Bacosa weaves five interlocking themes: limited access to resources, resilient self‑help, inventive ways of finding joy and food, unguarded devotion to loved ones, and a humble faith that steadies the spirit.

Whether a family soothing their quadruplets, children spinning makeshift games beneath a streetlight, or a pedicab driver dressing smartly for the foggy dawn, each image asks viewers to look again—and to question what it means to live "at the ebb" — and what we might learn from their lives.

As the artist writes, he hopes the work will “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable,” reminding us that dignity and beauty can thrive even at the ebb.

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