Kemal accentuates humanity through the lens

Kemal accentuates humanity through the lens

Simon Howland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two exciting projects by a young Indonesian photo journalist
paint a picture of a thriving industry capable of standing
unaided on the world stage.

Kemal Jufri's work on the aftermath of the Bali bombings and
work in progress on the children of Timor Lorosae are a testament
to the skills of one of the nation's finest photographers and an
indication of what Indonesian photo journalists have to offer.

On Oct. 12, 2002, a terrorist attack in Bali brought the
attention of the world to the tourist island. One of the worst
terrorist attacks in the history of Indonesia claimed almost 200
lives and shattered the island's image as a safe place to get
away from the turmoil elsewhere in the world.

Jufri was there in Kuta to witness the devastation and on
Tuesday night his photos were displayed at the Aksara bookstore
in South Jakarta. The photos afforded viewers a unique
perspective on the atrocity as Jufri worked magic with the
day-to-day and mundane to paint a haunting picture of humanity
and despair.

The exhibition coincided with the hundredth day since the
bombings and was rather anticlimactically titled, "A Tribute to
Bali: 100 days after."

The pictures were hung along the walls in the back section of
the bookstore. The first image to confront you was the infamous
shot looking down on Kuta from above which appeared on magazine
and newspaper covers all around the world. Its power lay in its
depiction of the extent of the devastation where as far as the
eye can see the damage is obvious. Scorched earth and black husks
that where once buildings get the viewer as close to the scene as
possible without being there.

His pictures of Western tourists in various states of shock
and disbelief add a sense of humanity, and a lone Balinese man in
tears on his knees brings home the impact on the locals, people
for whom the impact will last a lifetime.

He uses a setting as mundane as the foyer of McDonalds to show
the impact on the livelihood of the local people and his clinical
portraits of the bomb victims evokes a combination of disgust and
pity in the viewer.

Kemal Jufri is one of Indonesia's most accomplished young
photojournalists and, at 29 years of age, has been in the field
for almost a decade.

He began his career in 1994 as an intern at Antara news agency
before joining Agence France-Presse (AFP). He then moved to the
now defunct Asiaweek until its closure in late 2001.

In 2000 he was the recipient of one of the world's most
prestigious awards for photojournalism, The University of
Missouris's Picture of the Year (POY). And the following year he
was recognized as one of Indonesia's most exciting young
journalists.

In March 2001 he formed Imaji Press, an Indonesian photography
service, in conjunction with his partner, freelance journalist
Dina Purita Antonio.

He currently works as a freelance photographer and does
regular assignments for Time magazine, Newsweek, the New York
Times and the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Kemal could not be present during the exhibition as he is
currently on assignment for Time magazine in Papua. But his
partner Dina was there to keep up appearances and informed me of
a joint project she and Kemal are working on in East Timor.

The new endeavor, entitled Esperansa, or hope in Portuguese,
depicts the lives of the children of Timor Lorosae from the time
of the young nation gaining it's freedom to the official
declaration of independence in May, 2002.

The project aims to point to the heart of the issues affecting
the children of Timor Lorosae: regardless of what they've been
through or what they may face in the future their spirits enable
them to persevere and provide hope for their new nation.