Getting acquainted with Surabaya through photography
Getting acquainted with Surabaya through photography
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya
Australia's Duncan Graham, a veteran journalist and a frequent contributor to The Jakarta Post, held a solo photo exhibition called "Voyeur ou Reporter?" (Seer or Observer?) at Centre Culturel et de Cooperation Linguistique (CCCL) in Surabaya on Dec. 1.
"These photos are the most fantastic and most natural that I have taken with my camera. They depict the character of the people of Surabaya, who are known to be open and hospitable to anybody," Graham said.
In the exhibition, Graham, who has also written The People Next Door, a book published by University of Western Australia Press, exhibited 50 framed photos, all of which describe the life of the people of East Java, with the majority of the works set in Surabaya.
Graham's photos generally describe 12 facial expressions, encompassing wisdom, trust, doubt, pain, purpose, authority, priorities, wonder, privilege, faith, skill and joy.
For photography aficionados in Surabaya, Graham's photos are nothing new. Many of the same themes and features can be found in work by Indonesian photographers.
Take Oscar Motulloh, a senior photographer from Antara news agency, and Trisnadi of Associated Press, for example. In their photo exhibitions, they always depict poverty, social problems and conflicts.
This is natural as the two photographers are part of this social system and culture. Graham, however, is Australian, so for him the portrait of a community and its activities is extraordinarily interesting and impressive.
He can explain the purpose of his photos to both visitors and journalists, and also point out differences between Indonesian and Australian culture.
Photography lovers are all agreed that Graham's works are really interesting. Perhaps they can help answer questions about the essence of humanity and culture.
Life
A resident of Surabaya for three years, Graham never feels tired of explaining his works to other people, even if he has already looked at his photos hundreds of times. He selected all of the photos for the exhibition himself.
"It is really very difficult to get a natural pose like what you see in my photos in the West or even in Australia. People in the West enjoy the right of privacy that regulates their privacy during a photo session," he said.
As laws regulating an individual's privacy are in force in the West, he said, a photographer must seek someone's permission before taking his or her picture.
In Indonesia, he said, someone's private life is for public consumption, ranging from his or her age to his or her religion and other things related to private affairs.
To illustrate, he mentioned a local newspaper in Surabaya that often prints uncensored pictures of bloody bodies and corpses. In the West, he added, papers do not print such pictures.
Unlike in the West, pornography is illegal in Indonesia.
That is why in Indonesia a photographer cannot work as freely as in the West. In Indonesia, a photographer is not someone the public fears. In fact, they allow photographers to take their pictures.
"Indonesians place great trust in a photographer. I can freely go in and out of villages and people's homes without any pressure at all," said Graham, who often pedals around Surabaya on his bike looking for subjects.
Claiming that he never tires of learning about the cultural secrets of Indonesian society, Graham said Indonesia was rich not only in terms of its natural wonders but also in human resources. Indeed, his photos reflect these two aspects of the country.