Gregory Haliliwas born in 1975，received his B.F.A from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia，and currently lives in Manila。He returned to the Philippines in 2013 after 25 years in the United States, and

started to carve and paint on traditional material— mother-of-pearl, creating memento moris. His work has exhibited in National Museum of the Philippines and museums in the U.S. In 2016, Halili was one of the Filipino artists who presented in the Singapore Biennale.

In his creation, there are many of his reflections on memory, life, death, and cycles. He spent a large amount of time polishing mother-of-pearl into smooth surfaces, and then he decided on the theme of the painting based on its form, some of which are the ocean, sky, and some are eyes and corals. These vas and varied things are carefully preserved by a small mother-of-pearl only the size of the palm.