This work references the early intellectual production of José Rizal, whose first published novel Noli Me Tangere appeared in Berlin in 1887. One year earlier, in 1886, Rizal translated Friedrich Schiller’s drama Wilhelm Tell into Tagalog, retaining the title Guillermo Tell. The manuscript circulated privately for decades and was first officially published in 1961 in Manila by the Pambansang Komisyon ng Ikasandaang Taon ni José Rizal.

Drawing on Rizal’s intellectual rigor and stylistic clarity, the artist stages a self-portrait wearing a suit inspired by Rizal and reenacts the iconic apple-on-the-head scene as a symbol of mastery and mutual trust. The work questions authorship and agency within this historical reference: who is the one who shoots? The photographs further allude to Rizal’s handwritten annotations and his inclusion of the pre-Hispanic Tagalog script Baybayin on the final page of Guillermo Tell, situating the work at the intersection of translation, resistance, and cultural transmission.