Silver Linings

2025

About 6,000 Filipinos leave the Philippines every day. They migrate out of necessity, to support their families and secure a better future. In a new country, many face economic, emotional, and cultural challenges, from homesickness and unfair treatment to financial exploitation and racial discrimination. Yet amid these hardships, they also find small victories: in money sent to loved ones or a word in a new language learned. These become “silver linings" that ease the weight of leaving home, if only for a fleeting moment.

Perak, the Malay term for “silver,” gave rise to the Filipino word pera, reflecting the link between this lustrous metal and the concept of value. Silver became the world’s first global currency when Spanish coins spread across continents in the 16th century, reaching the Philippines through the Manila Galleons that sailed between the islands and Acapulco during Spanish colonization.

In Silver Linings, silver is both the prize and the net that draws it in.