The backdrop where the scenes occur is a compendium of the enduring crises against indigenous peoples. Woven textiles from the north and the south are deliberately covered by patches, representing the struggles to preserve cultural integrity despite deliberate erasure. These textiles carry the nuances of their cloth, showcasing a cultural identity that persistently seeks visibility, even in the face of deliberate attempts at erasure. Across their shared experience is the encroachment of their spaces by uniformed forces.

The colorway of their uniforms cannot hide the intent to seep through ancestral lands and other places where they do not belong. Instead of green, their uniform is gray – like the ash they leave behind as they scorch the earth with fear and firepower that was never meant to protect.

In an ultimate irony, the military uniform is historically based on the natural adaptation of camouflage used by plants and animals in order to survive. The bringer of death imitates life.

Lagablab sa Hardin ng Digma illustrates fire, wood, glass, and grains as objects of indigenous and universal importance, weaponized. Fire also creates, in a way that is unmistakable, even violent, a courage that remembers all who once burned.

Archie Oclos