VJ is best known for his work: “Marked: The Gangs of Baseco”. Here is en excerpt on the project, taken from his site:

Originally planned as a world class resort with pristine white sand fronting the famous view of Manila bay, the Bataan Shipping and Engineering Company (BASECO) compound is now home to over 6,000 families drawn from all over the country in search of a life away from the margins. Now tainted with the bitter stench of industrial waste and the garbage coming from neighboring dumpsites, what was once a dream doorway to the “pristine” life in the city is now an enclave of hopeful souls trapped in a vicious cycle of survival in the metropolis.

Due to poor living conditions, the younger generations are forced to work and sometimes engaged in criminal acts to put food on the table. Once heralded as the “gang” to look out for, the Chinese Mafia Crew (CMC) is comprised of a younger generation of infamous gang members and crooks in the city settled in BASECO compound.

In 2004 a fire razed a huge part of the 52-hectare shipyard. Marked by their past, these gang members are now trying to turn from their old ways, hunting for decent work and trying to erase the tattoos that mark the old days when they were dangerous men.

This story follows their lives in search for another chance outside the circle of crime, violence and drugs.

His work on the Gangs of Baseco earned him the prestigious Ian Parry Scholarship grant and automatically nominated him to the 2009 Joop Swart Masterclass program in Amsterdam. For more information on who he is, the other awards he has won, and what he focuses his work on, click on his official bio on his website.