Swiss born Pierre documents Bali's rural areas
Swiss born Pierre documents Bali's rural areas
By Intan Petersen
DENPASAR (JP): Pierre Poretti, a Swiss born photographer now
living in Bali, is one of many who has fallen under the spell of
Bali.
He has made the island his home and workplace since 1984. In
the last ten years Pierre, who is an admirer of Felix Nadar, a
photographer whom he deems as the patron of photographers, has
documented Bali's rural areas, its performing arts and dances,
its beaches and the various lifestyles of the people inhabiting
the Island of the Gods in black and white.
Why is he so interested in black and white photography?
Haven't people given up black and white photography?
"Through my black and white photographs, painted with
transparent water colors, I can pour out my imagination and
feelings onto the object of photograph, depending on my mood at
the time as well as my aesthetical values," Pierre said. "This
color application technique on black and white photographs was
common in Europe and America when colored photographs were not
yet invented. Before 1960, many people colored their black and
white photographs according to their own taste," he explained.
Even after the invention of color photography this technique,
now valued as art, is again popular in Europe and America.
The colors brushed onto the photographs can make it look
antique. They also convey a different impression from a colored
photograph of the same object.
"This technique gives people a strong impression of the
photographed object," Pierre argued. "I can even create poems
through these works."
Pierre does poeticize through his spellbinding photographs.
His work entitled No Guest, shot when Jimbaran Beach was
deserted, is of the sea, beach and empty chairs. Pierre
beautifully colored the sand the golden yellow color of the rice
paddy while maintaining the natural blue of the sea. The golden
yellow of the paddy is calming and peaceful. It puts you under
the artist's poetic spell.
However, the strength of Pierre's photography is not always
due to the unnatural coloring of the object. He uses original
colors in Little Brother which depicts a Balinese girl putting a
flower behind her younger brother's ear as they depart for the
temple to pray. Here Pierre has maintained the original whiteness
of the destar (headdress worn during religious ceremonies). The
white destar is the strength of the photograph while the other
objects are colored transparently, like the girl's red dress.
Most of his colored photographs have a peaceful nuance which calm
the audience.
Pierre was born in Lugano and speaks English, German, Italian,
French and Indonesian. He has proven from the start that he was
not wrong in choosing Bali. His works are appreciated by many
people and are in many collections.
"Money is not my main objective," Pierre assured when asked
why his creations are not expensive.
He also spends his time as an ambassador for Bali through his
exhibitions overseas. He had a solo exhibition in Switzerland in
1989 entitled Bali 84/88, and last month showed his works in New
York. His painted photographs are also displayed in several five-
star hotels in Bali, including the Grand Hyatt Bali and Bali
Hyatt.
Pierre's love of Bali underlies his constant study of Balinese
culture and has led to intimate interaction with other artists in
Bali, like the painter Nyoman Gunarsa and Idanna Pucci, who is
the Italian artist who restored the house of Walter Spies in
Iseh, Karangasem.
Pierre Poretti's photographs dispel the visions of model Elle
Macpherson posing in Balinese traditional dress, of topless
female tourists sunning themselves on beaches regardless of local
norms, and the pubs offering all types of nightlife. Pictures of
farmers' children, of fishermen on the weekend and bicycles on
the paddy field dikes convince us that the more Bali remains
intact the more Bali will remain a paradise.