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