'Senyap', a search for meaning in silence

'Senyap', a search for meaning in silence

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Rows of headstones sit peacefully as cottony clouds rush
restlessly by over a graveyard somewhere on Madura island in
eastern Java, racing with the sun to finish the day's business
before darkness descends.

The peak of Mount Bromo in East Java, trees and hills, and the
Arq-e-Bam citadel in Iran stand naked against the blue skyscape,
proud to serve a celestial function as mediators between the sky
and earth.

Speechless, yet full of meaning, these and other photographs
by Kompas photojournalist Arbain Rambey are on display in an
exhibition titled Senyap (Silence) at Bentara Budaya Jakarta.

The photographs in the exhibition date from the mid-1990s up
to a recent visit to Iran to cover the aftermath of the
devastating earthquake there.

Fifty-four photographs, mostly landscapes in color or black
and white, make up the exhibition, which is the fourth solo show
for the 42-year-old photojournalist, who has worked at Kompas
since 1990.

Silence is expressed by centering immobile, dead -- physically
and figuratively -- objects (subjects might be more appropriate)
in natural space. Yet, a deeper look leads one to associate the
settings as a self in a bodily continuum, or, on a larger scope,
a microcosm in a macrocosm.

As human as it sounds, this sort of mental association can be
traced deep to our psyches, our hidden beings.

Most of the subjects of Arbain's photographs are inanimate
objects, but the photographs make more sense if they are not so
simply interpreted.

Humans, plants and animals are "alive" because they are
breathing. But in a human's search for meaning, anything, be it
alive or not, can assist the search, particularly if it is
related or even attached to past events that re-emerge
consciously or unconsciously during certain moments.

In this regard, "death" or "dead" things (headstones, hills,
islands, etc.) are "immortal"; things or persons that have been
long gone but exist in the mind of the photographer, brought
alive in tranquility once again. Now they have frozen by Arbain's
camera.

It seems immortality inspires Arbain, to the point that the
objects he shoots are not only objects of artistic expression,
but companions on his journey to self.

The resulting photographs are peaceful, pleasing or
depressing, depending on the eye of the beholder. Yet Arbain has
proven that photography can capture the essence of life, using
the techniques and devices available.

Arbain says photography is his way of telling people his
story. While he shoots news photos for Kompas, this exhibition is
not about photojournalism.

This is not the first time he has taken "silence" as his main
theme. In a solo exhibition in Jakarta last August, he introduced
the "Voice of Silence".

"All of my photographs have the same tone, all reflecting
silence in many senses."

-- I-Box
Senyap by Arbain Rambey, until Jan. 29.
Bentara Budaya Jakarta
Jl. Palmerah Selatan 17
Jakarta 10270
Tel. (021) 5483008, 5490666, ext. 7910
Fax. (021) 53699181
Open to the public 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily