1997's violence, tragedies seen through news photos
Photo display exposes 1997 gloomy days
JAKARTA (JP): In the eyes of many news photographers, 1997 was a year of brutality, disaster and drought.
Thirty-eight news photographers are expressing their view of the year through a month-long photo exhibition, jointly organized by Antara and Reuters at the Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara building on Jl. Antara 59, Pasar Baru, in Central Jakarta, which concludes today.
The 76 human-interest pictures, a mixture of black-and-white and color prints, are dominated by scenes of emotional riots ahead of the May general election, starving Irianese, floods, fire and air crashes.
"The photographs force us to recall Indonesia's recent dark history," commented visitor Makhli of Pondok Gede, East Jakarta.
Another visitor, Suris of Cipinang, East Jakarta added: "The portraits depict the feeling of Indonesia's less fortunate people."
According to the exhibition's organizers, the goal of the exhibition is not only to show the graphic pictures to the public.
"In these images lie a hope that no more such cruel events will happen in our beloved country after 1997," the gallery's curator Oscar Matuloh told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The pictures, professionally and beautifully displayed on the gallery's first floor, highlight important tragedies captured by the lens during 1997.
Viewers are led by the room's interior designs to start viewing a series of superb images from the general election campaign. Photographs portray colorful faces of campaigners and some scenes of angry security officers facing off with party faithful.
Subsequent pictures take the viewer to lands reeling from the year's drought and the crashes of IPTN's military CN 235 plane in West Java and the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia in North Sumatra.
In the latter accident, all 234 people onboard were killed.
Melancholy
The exhibition, entitled Kilas Balik '97 (Portraits of '97), is not all about last year. On the second floor the organizers also display a series of melancholy pictures recorded by Indonesian new photographers in previous years.
Among them are images from the Nov. 2, 1996 Mt. Merapi eruption in Central Java. One photo displays a family's half- eaten breakfast left behind when they evacuated the area. Six plates of rice and two glasses partially filled with coffee are shown covered with ash from the volcano eruption.
On the other side of the second floor, a picture records the aftermath of a storm at Desa Panjer in Banyuwangi, East Java, in June 1994 which killed 121 people.
"We carefully selected the pictures on the second floor to help visitors recall natural disasters that occurred before 1997 as well," said Oscar, a senior news photographer who recently held a solo exhibition of his works on Cambodia.
Public figures selected for display include President Soeharto, captured along with his top military brass, opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairman of Nadhlatul Ulama Abdurrahman Wahid, East Timor's separatist movement Fretilin leader Xanana Gusmao and Dili Bishop Belo.
"We just tried to show interesting pictures. That's all," Jeremy Clift of Reuters told the Post Monday.
Most of the photos were printed earlier in local newspapers and weeklies.
The pictures were collected from 38 press photographers of 15 media institutions, namely Antara, Reuters, AFP, Merdeka, Paron, Gatra, Sinar Pagi, Tiras, D&R, Surya, Tajuk, Ummat, Kompas, Pikiran Rakyat and Bisnis Indonesia.
The exhibition was funded with 3,500 from Reuters and commemorated the 60th anniversary of Antara, he said.
Oscar said the exhibition would be held annually, but the theme for 1998 had yet to be decided.
The theme for Kilas Balik '97 was Karena Mereka Empuya Bumi (Because They Own The Land).
Most visitors were delighted after viewing the exhibition, which many viewed as a masterpiece collection of the Indonesian news photographer corps.
"It must have taken a lot of nerve to have shot that photograph under such risky conditions," wrote a visitor in the comment book, referring to a photograph from the July 27, 1996 incident when a "mysterious" group attacked the Indonesian Democratic Party's headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.
The exhibition, however, has attracted only a few people, particularly during its last days due to a lack of promotion. (bsr)