Farah Wardani
\nContributor
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Between 1973 and 1983, a child exodus occurred in Indonesia,
\nwhereby a great number of Indonesian babies and children were
\ntaken by adoptive parents from foreign countries, mostly the
\nNetherlands. These children were given away by their biological
\nparents for many reasons, from escaping social and cultural
\nrestrictions for having an illegitimate child, to purely economic
\nmotives.<\/p>\n
This phenomenon became such a serious problem, resembling the
\nexport of Indonesian workers to foreign countries, that the
\ngovernment eventually stopped it officially in 1983. That little
\npiece of this country's history then slowly faded from memory,
\nconcealing questions on what then happened to the children
\nafterwards, and what sort of life they might have led.<\/p>\n
Valentijn (Tino) Van Dijk, alias Tino Djumini, was one of the
\ngiven-away children. He was adopted in 1978 by a Dutch family
\nthat was first shown a photograph of three-year-old Tino with the
\nwords \"Nice Boy\" written on the back. From then on, Tino grew up
\nto become a part of his Dutch family as well as a Dutch citizen.<\/p>\n
He undertook studies in art and currently works as a freelance
\nphotographer in the Netherlands. He then returned to Indonesia to
\ntrace his biological mother, whom he eventually found and met.<\/p>\n
From such beginnings we can already expect that Tino Van Dijk
\nhas a compelling story in store for us. We can also see an
\nintriguing path that shows how photos have become a significant
\nelement in his biography -- the way the major change in his life
\nstarted early on with a simple photograph and then how he became
\na photographer when he grew up.<\/p>\n
Inevitably, photography is what he has chosen as the medium to
\ntell us his story. His exhibition is at Galeri Soemardja at the
\nBandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bandung. The exhibition
\npresents a compilation of black-and-white family portraits taken
\nin Indonesia and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Entitled Nice Boy, like that picture of him back in 1978 and
\njust as his exhibition curator, Rifky Effendy, says in the
\ncatalog, it was like presenting \"photography of fate.\"<\/p>\n
This can be seen vividly in two photos that are displayed
\nalongside each other, which portray Van Dijk with each of his two
\nfamilies, one with his middle-class Dutch adoptive parents in the
\nNetherlands, the other with his biological mother's humble family
\nin Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The two pictures reflect Van Dijk's double unbelonging, his
\ndisplacement in both of his families, how he differs physically
\nand racially from his Dutch parents, and how the aura that
\nemanates from his stare, character and mannerisms that resulted
\nfrom his Dutch upbringing mark him out from his Indonesian family
\nand its surroundings.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Van Dijk also invites us to join him in engaging
\nwith the stories of the others, in portrayals of various
\nIndonesian and Dutch families that he met through personal or
\ncoincidental encounters, and also by research.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian series presents portraits of \"ordinary\"
\nIndonesian families from a broad range of social classes. The
\nDutch series presents various middle-class Dutch families with
\ntheir adopted children from Indonesia, with an exception of one
\nthat presents a young married couple with their son, in which the
\nhusband was an adopted child from Colombia and the wife
\nIndonesian-born, who had moved to the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
All the photographs are captured in the utmost simplicity,
\nportraying the families in common family portrait poses, mostly
\nin their homes, accompanied by short texts explaining the
\nbackground of each.<\/p>\n
Yet, it is intriguing to see how the Indonesian and Dutch
\nscenes are juxtaposed one with another, the way they display
\nimages of \"proper\" families and other versions of families with
\none or more \"displaced\" members within them, the ones that stand
\nout for being \"the others.\"<\/p>\n
They make us look back to our own family portraits, how they
\nidentify ourselves, signifying our sense of shelter, a place in
\nthis world for us to claim and to return to. In another way, it
\nis also an institution in itself.<\/p>\n
Van Dijk sorts out his series of images like throwing cards on
\nthe table for the audience, giving them the space to go beyond
\nthe smiling faces on the pictures, excavating the stories beneath
\nas well as exploring the possibilities that might have happened
\nalong the way. Being one of the subjects of his own work, his
\npersonal engagement intensifies the depth of all the narrations
\nhe has collected and encapsulated, both visually, in his
\nphotography, and also textually in his writing in the exhibition
\ncatalog, which could serve as an autonomous narrative project in
\nitself.<\/p>\n
The exhibition as a whole is thought-provoking, stimulating us
\nto rethink our concepts of family in relation to various aspects
\nsuch as norms, sociocultural constructions, kinship, legacy,
\nhistory and memory. Moreover, it also can lead us to think how we
\nperceive ourselves within this increasingly globalized world,
\nwhich is endlessly transforming, along with values and notions of
\nidentity itself.<\/p>\n
Nice Boy, exhibition of photos by Valentijn (Tino) Van Dijk at
\nGaleri Soemardja ITB, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, until Oct. 20,
\n2003.<\/p>",
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