Angélica Dass and TECNO Bring 100 Portraits of Becoming to the Philippines

TECNO and photographer Angélica Dass unveiled a gallery with 20 portraits and personal stories gathered in Manila, and the collection now sits in the company’s global story archive beside the project’s first chapter in Kenya. Every frame was shot on a phone.

What 100 Portraits of Becoming shows in Manila

The theme is See Beyond Labels, and the people in it meet solo motherhood from different directions. Some are mothers raising children while holding down work, some were raised by solo mothers, and others come from multi-generation households, OFW families, and community groups that support them. Dass photographed all of them on location, in workplaces, family homes, and familiar community spaces tied to their routines.

The release cites public data placing solo parents in the country at 14 to 15 million, with women accounting for about 95 percent of them. It also notes 2.19 million Filipinos working overseas in 2024, 57.2 percent of them women.

Shot on the CAMON Slim 5G

Every portrait was taken on the CAMON Slim 5G with Universal Tone, the skin-tone imaging work TECNO developed to represent a wider range of complexions in phone photography. The pairing fits the phone’s Make It Lighter positioning, and Gadget Pilipinas called it the best-looking CAMON yet in its review.

Three of the twenty

Ely Haig is a solo working mother, breadwinner, advertising professional, and competitive amateur padel player. She stepped back from opportunities while her daughter was small, then found a way to make room for her career, her daughter, side projects and padel again. “I want people to see more than a solo mom,” she said.

Twinkle Dimayuga Zamora raised two children on her own, then founded MAMA, or Mothers Advocating through Ministry and Action, to support other solo mothers and their children. “Sometimes the strongest thing a mother can do is say, ‘I need help,'” she said.

Eunice N. Angeles, a fourth-year nursing student, was raised by a solo mother who later took work in Qatar as an OFW. She points to confidence, determination, and the courage to find her own way as the things she grew up watching.

Two years, five countries

100 Portraits of Becoming runs for two years across five countries and will gather 100 portraits in total. Jack Guo, General Manager of TECNO, said the Philippines chapter showed how naturally motherhood, work, ambition and personal identity can coexist in the same life.

The remaining 17 stories from the Manila set are up alongside the Kenya gallery on TECNO’s story archive. The CAMON Slim 5G starts at PHP 24,999 in the Philippines.