Women photographers at Galeri Oktagon

Women photographers at Galeri Oktagon

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

Senior photographer and lecturer of photography at the Jakarta
Arts Institute Firman Ichsan has taken the initiative to hold an
all-women photographers' exhibition at Galeri Oktagon here.

Themed Mata Perempuan, or Through Women's Eyes, Firman says he
wanted to counterbalance the overwhelming number of events
featuring male photographers.

Seven women photographers reveal their work on issues of
gender discrepancy and discriminative realities that hover over
women's lives, even in this modern age, in which women should be
free of the shackles of the past.

As forums and conferences about women's rights as a part of
fundamental human rights intensify around the globe, the
participants of this exhibition, all in their early thirties,
testify to the fact that there is still a long way to go.

As Widya Sartika Amrin points out in her stirring work, women
remain in the shadow, although they are main players making
crucial contributions at all levels of society. In the same vein,
Maria Lasakajaya focuses on stark contrasts in lighting,
presenting women with heads down or eyes closed -- women are
still treated as second-class citizens, she contends.

Stefanny Imelda, on the other hand, makes a sharp protest
against abortion. Placing two containers holding fetuses and
flanked by an urinoir, she comments that the courage to act
should go hand in hand with the courage to take responsibility.
Other photographs post a critique on adults playing games with
love and life, followed by a wedding shot, probably a suggestion
as to the ultimate -- and wisest -- solution.

Highlighting the strength of women, Ayu Ismalia Nuraini
photographs portraits of prominent women like Pia Alisyahbana,
who is active in raising funds for the promotion of culture, Ibu
Kasur, an icon of children's songs, human rights activist Ratna
Sarumpaet and Ibu Sulami, who was jailed because of her alleged
adherence to communism.

Maya Ibrahim focuses on the strengths of women, taking the
traditional rose as a symbolic metaphor to express the resilience
of women through various circumstances.

Meanwhile, Vitri Yuliani provides a different application of
photography and photographic art in her use of advanced digital
technology combined with graphic art in a mosaic of text and
color. Make me over is a peek into a greenroom where cosmetics
re-make women's faces to fit the ideals of the world of glamour.

Also making use of digital photography, Keke Tumbuan stands
out in showing what a woman's eyes can see without making any
critical reference to pain or degradation experienced through
their unequal position. Women do look physically differently from
men, she says in Smiles, a work based entirely on images of
people's mouths.

"When men look at women, they usually look at the figure, but
women would look at the mouth and the eyes that reflect the
person's character," she says. She also reveals flashes of her
diary, perhaps the most intimate friend in a person's life.

The exhibition is an important event in the history of
Indonesian photography, which has so far shed little -- if any --
light on the work of women photographers. Yet, the desire to have
an all-women photographers exhibition may have been a bit too
ambitious to generate the necessary impetus in holding the event.

Although gender and women's issues are good fashion nowadays,
one can hardly avoid the impression that, while time may have
passed and visions may have changed, women continue to run the
risk of being a "lucrative commodity", albeit under the cloak of
development and women's rights.

On the other hand, as women have made a beginning in testing
the boundaries of identity and self-perception, this first -- in
some ways shaky -- step has the potential to evolve into gender-
expressive photography.

As to the reason behind the all-women photographers concept,
one may argue about different visual perceptions and perspectives
-- as was implied in the question asked upon the publication of
Women Photographers by National Geographic Books: "Why a book
devoted entirely to women photographers?"

Nina Hoffman, President of National Geographic Books, who
personally led the campaign for the book, explained that it was a
celebration of the National Geographic Society's reliance on
women photographers, and yet, knowing little about their history
or their contribution to the general knowledge of the world. A
review of the book read: "All the pictures in Women Photographers
at National Geographic will make you stop and think -- as a
photographer and as a person."

To make pictures that stir the senses, and to do so with
professional skill and expertise, might be an important
consideration for women photographers in their pursuit of
excellence.

Mata Perempuan Photo Exhibition, by Seven Women Photographers
at Galeri Oktagon, Jl. Gunung Sahari Raya 50A, Central Jakarta,
Tel: (021) 420 4545. Through June 30, 2003