Photo exhibition reflects on reform

Photo exhibition reflects on reform

Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta

They stare into total emptiness and wait, just wait. A pile of
bricks is the only furniture in the room. A naked body chained to
a beam, headless. The dark eyes of a young man bore into the
viewer's heart, heartbreakingly deep.

As deep as the fate of lost souls in a place for mentally ill
people goes the expression of Rosna, a survivor of the prolonged
Maluku sectarian gruesome clashes. The lines beyond her dull, yet
sometimes still hopeful, flickering eyes and her pinched lips
allow a glimpse of her short, yet painful life.

These two touching photo essays by Timur Angin and Widya
Sartika Amrin are part of the exhibition Lalu, Kini, Nanti (Past,
Present, Future) currently on display at Gallery Oktagon Jakarta.

The exhibited pictures are the result of a workshop on another
exhibition of German photographer Regina Schmeken that took place
some weeks ago at Goethe-Institute Jakarta.

Following observance of Regina's images, workshop participants
used black-and-white photography to express highly emotive and
sometimes personal themes.

Just as the German captured the character of her country after
its reunification, the Indonesian photographers -- almost all
students or graduates of the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) --
chose a political subject. Their main focus was Indonesia --
specifically Jakarta -- after five years of political change.

Regina, a photojournalist, probably had an advantage over the
ten young Indonesian artists in that she was able to record
events whilst they were developing. Workshop coordinator Alex
Supartono says this momentum allowed her to state her opinion and
record her emotions.

The photographers in the workshop, on the other hand, were
challenged to state their opinions about the 1998 reform five
years after the event. So their works are a sort of visual
reflection of the past, its impact on the present and what might
happen in the future.

Timur Angin visited for the second time a place where mentally
ill people are taken -- usually by family members -- to be looked
after for Rp 3,000 a month.

"The political reform of 1998 that I feel is the same as what
the mentally ill patients feel: nothing. The chaos of reform to
me seems like a crazy mind, empty without thoughts. Maybe we are
more damned than the mental patients, because we still feel the
reform and hope for a change," Timur explained the intention
behind his photography.

The ten participants found very different ways to approach
Regina's work, not by imitating her style, but by learning to
grasp the right moment and by daring to be emotional.

Maya Ibrahim's work shows a mother holding her baby at Gambir
train station as she looks up at Jakarta's skyline. The angle at
which the photograph is taken creates a threatening impression of
the city.

Like the picture of children bathing in a dirty, concrete
drain or the portrait of a crying boy, this photo illustrates
Maya's empathy for children who have no chance of a better
future, without the provision of adequate space or education.

Stefany Imelda again compares her photos from 1998 and today:
A young man holds up the effigy of a skeleton in front of Hotel
Indonesia by night, beside a picture of the military blocking the
road for a massive street protest five years ago.

An orator with glasses taped together with cellotape is
pictured alongside a monkey under a traditional mask. The final
image in the series is of a closed-down fair. The rides are under
plastic covers while the carousel horses take off.

Stefany associates the street rallies that lead to the change
in presidency in 1998 with festivities and celebration akin to
parties.

"Whenever the party is on, the party always end. But parties
will be thrown," She stated.

Some of the photographers haven't strayed far from their usual
modes of expression. For example, Paul Kadarisman uses his trendy
style to explore the subject.

He took some of his non-political friends to the national
monument, covering their serious interest in details, fortunately
without drifting into cynicism about this highly political
symbol.

Heri Hermawan tries to fulfill the challenge with a photograph
of a white rat that he hung by himself. He wants to symbolize the
greed of a system that is able to destroy everything. But, even
if you can erase the memory of his cruel act, the artificial
setting of Heri's pictures is not really related to Regina's idea
of photography anyhow.

More sensitive about symbols, autodidact photographers
Christina Phan and Evelyn Pritt chose feet and building sites
respectively to symbolize the ongoing or rather "stuck" reform
process.

"Every construction work is restricted. I cannot find out what
happens inside until it is finished and do not know whether the
building will have anything to do with my life. A construction
site is something steadfast but empty," stated Evelyn.

But still one has to move on and nobody can move forward
without feet. This idea is somewhat familiar to Christina whose
mother is also limp.

The two youngest participants in this exhibition are the IKJ
students -- Trika J.Simajuntak, who is 22, and Bela Ginanjar, who
is 23. Trika presents a photographic series of mobet, a hybrid of
motorcycle and becak (pedicab) that replaced bajaj (three-wheeled
motorized vehicles) but still operate in some areas of Jakarta.

While the mobet represent the constancy of life, the blurred
contours of cars in the background represent the speed of modern
development.

Bela Ginanjar presents Acehnese actor Agus Nurama's persona
on- and offstage. In sketches similar to stage photography, Bela
captured the different actions of Agus, who started his unique
one-man shows around the time of the 1998 protests, and is still
performing on the street and at events.

Through this workshop and exhibition, Gallery Oktagon gives
young photographers the chance to show their work. In this case,
female participants are prioritized. Not because Regina happens
to be a woman, but because women are subject to more difficult
working conditions, especially in the field of photography, the
gallery's curator and director, Firman Ichsan, said.

Lalu, Kini, Nanti To Regina from April 6 through April 17, 2004
Galeri Oktagon, Jl. Gunung Sahari 50A, Central Jakarta, phone:
(021) 4204545, or www.oktagon.co.id