“Ano ba talaga trabaho mo?”

The Howie Severino Podcast

27-year-old artist Renren Galeno’s parents used to ask her that question. Not anymore, not after her illustrations were part of “Searching for Maura,” a ground-breaking investigative report in the Washington Post that was a finalist for the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes.

Discovered because of her comics on climate anxiety, the Davao native gave a unique Filipino perspective to a major American journalism project that unearthed a long-buried scandal involving the US government’s Smithsonian Museum.

The project also blew open a hidden part of Philippine history that saw Filipinos displayed in a human zoo at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

Galeno tells Howie Severino how she convinced her parents that art was a viable career choice and what it was like to collaborate with investigative journalists.

Producer: John Eumer Yanga Researcher: Jenica Villanueva Editor: Jayr Magtoto

Links: The 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/claire-healy-nicole-dungca-and-ren-galeno-contributor-washington-post [VIDEO] Searching for Maura - The Washington Post https://youtu.be/O3aBxOv5txc?si=SNOHPoo8FXCNwNuL [ILLUSTRATED REPORT] Searching for Maura - The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2023/maura-philippines-smithsonian-brain-collection/ I pray you're born with gills https://www.10yearstosavetheworld.com/comics/ren-galeno?itemId=08s7zppb5cfnn1wugc7i2gfml69s7u Other works of Ren Galenoy https://rengaleno.ph.online/