JP\/19\/TINA<\/p>\n
Mohamad Iqbal gives victims a face<\/p>\n
Christina Schott
\nContributor\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
A hundred thirty-thousand dead, 40,000 missing, half a million
\nhomeless -- the tsunami in Aceh produced such unimaginable
\nnumbers of victims that many remain anonymous; part of an
\ninconceivable statistic.<\/p>\n
And despite all the coverage, it was seldom that TV pictures
\nof the horror, advertisement-style packages with emotional music,
\ndelved into the personal tragedies. Frequently we heard an
\nannouncer say \"He lost everything\". Far more rarely, however, did
\nwe get to know or feel what this \"everything\" actually meant. The
\nvictims became the objects, not the subjects, of the disaster.<\/p>\n
But, as photographer Mohamad Iqbal's well-researched photo
\nexhibition shows, the tsunami survivors have feelings and
\nthoughts; fear of the past and hope for the future. All of which
\nthey express in their faces.<\/p>\n
Faces of the Survivors is the title of Iqbal's very personal
\nquest on show at the Goethe Institute Jakarta and presented in
\ncooperation with the Antara Photo Journalism Gallery.<\/p>\n
The 26 portraits show Acehnese people telling their stories
\nwithout words, by presenting what is left in their lives.<\/p>\n
For five weeks, Iqbal traveled down the west coast of Aceh
\nlooking for people who were willing to tell him their stories and
\nto pose in front of his lens.<\/p>\n
\"It was a very emotional work experience. Every single photo
\nis the documentation of a personal tragedy that I had to learn
\nfirst, before I could set the picture in the right context,\" the
\nphotographer said.<\/p>\n
Seven-year-old Delisa and her father, Bahtiar, from the town
\nof Lambaro, are the only two members of their family who survived
\nthe tsunami.<\/p>\n
Iqbal met them for the first time in January, when the
\n60-year-old father was rushing out of the military's Kesdam
\nHospital carrying his daughter, who just had her left leg
\namputated. The pair were fleeing with other patients because they
\nhad heard rumors about another tsunami.<\/p>\n
When Iqbal returned to Aceh for the Faces project, he was
\nsurprised and touched to find them again by accident. He asked
\nDelisa, what he could do for her. All she said she wanted was ice
\ncream and Kentucky Fried Chicken.<\/p>\n
In the picture telling this story, father and daughter are
\nposing in front of a wooden shack -- their home now -- the girl
\nsmiling with a pocket radio balancing on her one leg, protected
\nby her father's arm.<\/p>\n
When so much of one's life has been obliterated by a disaster;
\nso many loved ones taken away; possessions become highly
\nsignificant. Nineteen-year-old Vera Siska presents herself with
\nthe remnants of her soft toy collection. The student of Syiah
\nKuala University spent days searching the neighborhood for her
\nhundreds of dolls that had been washed away.<\/p>\n
Eventually she found one here and another there among the
\ndebris. She washed each of them and dried them carefully. In the
\npicture, she is leaning back on a clothes line with widespread
\narms. She wears a a T-shirt emblazoned with the U.S. flag as an
\nIndonesian banner flaps in the background; the image becomes the
\nalmost surrealistic statement of a personal struggle to recover
\none's identity and a \"normal\" life.<\/p>\n
\"The choice of portraiture is the consideration of portrayed
\nsubjects. In portraiture, everyone composes themselves in front
\nof the public, it is the presentation of an individual in the
\nworld,\" curator Alexander Supartono said.<\/p>\n
Often in a chaotic and disastrous situation, a photographer
\ntakes scenes without the knowlege of the subjects, a situation
\nthat tends to objectify people in the search for a larger
\nnarrative.<\/p>\n
However in Faces, Iqbal personally introduced himself to his
\nsubjects and had to convince them to pose for his medium-format
\ncamera. The wasteland of the tsunami became his studio, populated
\nby his subjects and their few recovered possessions.<\/p>\n
Ibqal did not push his subjects for an emotional response and
\nmany keep their distance, showing either an uncertain smile or
\nthe traditional serious expression Indonesians reserve for formal
\nphotos.<\/p>\n
There are however, surprises -- like the old school teacher
\nsitting in her courtyard who had complained about the recovery
\nsituation. In the photograph her resigned eyes do most of the
\ntalking.<\/p>\n
With an almost obsessive wish for completeness, impossible to
\nfulfill, Iqbal extended his stay in Aceh twice. He traveled from
\nBanda Aceh through Aceh Besar, took a boat to Calang and Lamno
\nand finally went by motorbike to Meulaboh, where he was stopped
\nby the Indonesian Military from entering the city.<\/p>\n
In other places, the long-haired 33-year-old Jakartan was
\nsuspected of being an agent of the Indonesian intelligence.
\nAnother time, a woman broke down in tears when she saw Iqbal
\nbecause he reminded her of her own missing son.<\/p>\n
The photographer fought his way through a difficult situation,
\nsleeping in emergency tents, eating instant noodles and using
\nwhatever sanitary facilities were available; sometimes the open
\nsea.<\/p>\n
\"In the beginning, I thought I would not be able to portray
\npeople who have had such traumatic experiences. By overcoming
\nthis, this journey will have a strong influence on my future
\nwork. I have learned so much respect for the Acehnese people --
\nthey are very strong, accepting their fate as it is and trying to
\nstart all over again,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Iqbal mentions Sunyoto, the owner of a coffee shop in one of
\nthe hardest-hit shopping centers in Banda Aceh. Although nobody
\nelse had returned to the destroyed area, the 52-year-old, who had
\nlost his wife and house in the waves, began cleaning up the
\ndebris and reconstructing his shop.<\/p>\n
Or Karmilawati and Syamsul, who met in a refugee camp in Mata
\nIe, fell in love and got married, starting a new life in the
\nmiddle of the rubble. The couple, whose pictures were shown in
\nalmost all of the Indonesian newspapers, put on their wedding
\ncostumes for Iqbal to tell their story.<\/p>\n
Faces of the Survivors (Raut Pusaran, Raut Hayat) photo
\nexhibition by Mohamad Iqbal at Goethe Institute Jakarta,
\nJl. Sam Ratulangi 11-15, Menteng, Central Jakarta from April 14
\nuntil May 14.<\/p>",
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