Yogyakarta photography show surveys the body, the city

Yogyakarta photography show surveys the body, the city

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A cross generation of styles are strongly
reflected through the works of four Yogyakartan photographers in
an exhibition titled, Simpang Empat, or Crossroads.

The works of Agus Leonardus, Layung Buworo, Rama Surya and S.
Setiawan, are on display at the Bentara Budaya in Yogyakarta
until Aug. 1.

Through his pieces, Agus challenges viewers to contemplate the
images. In his opening photo, he pictured a computer screen with
two hands working the keyboard. The photo is the opening of his
story, "A Day in the Life of Myself, in my Eye."

All his 14 black-and-white pictures, such as Santai Sejenak
(Taking A Break) and Nambah Wawasan... Terlelap (Get More
Knowledge... Sleeping), only display his body parts, without
showing his face.

"If we try to see what we see with our own eyes, then we see
ourselves. With that, we can introspect... ," Agus said.

Ten color photos, the works of photographer Layung Buworo, try
to grab images of Yogyakarta in the past -- either from its
buildings and people or anything related to the city -- through a
series of pictures titled Jogja Tua 2000 (Old Jogja 2000).

In Modiste Pini, he featured a house with a large billboard
promoting Pini modiste, which specialized in women's clothing,
kebaya (traditional attire for women) and traditional wedding
dresses, guarded by a security officer.

Photographer S. Setiawan presented Yang Boleh dan Yang Tidak
Boleh, (What Can and Cannot Be Done), an exploration of woman's
body, almost equal to nude photography.

He pictured a woman, sitting in her underwear from the back,
while in another photo, Sinar dan Bayangan (Light and Shadow), he
combined two parts of the body in a double print, creating a
symmetrical pattern.

He also displayed part of a naked body covered by leaves and
even scraps of a newspaper and magazine. The magazine and
newspaper carried a face of an artist, who was photographed
naked.

The photographer seemed to be provoked by the recent case of
erotic pictures involving celebrities and media, putting the
photographers at risk.

"While princesses and the (goddess) Venus are naked, no one
cares, although they see them every day in the Prambanan and
Borobudur temples, or in paintings or as statues. But after
seeing the naked ones are now modern women, people start to
react. It's weird," said Setiawan, who is also a lecturer at
Yogyakarta's Indonesia Arts Institute.

Photographer Rama Surya displayed 100 photos about half the
size of a postcard. A series of his pictures, titled Setahun di
Yogya (A Year in Yogya), documented his stay in the city from
August 1998 to July of this year.

His journalistic photos were strong in human interest. One of
them, Solemnity, showed an old man wearing only a sarong of
Javanese batik leisurely reading a book at a kiosk while he
carried a bundle on his back. There also was a young man sleeping
below a Batman poster in Mimpi Jadi Batman, or Dream to be
Batman.

"I don't want to present the painful reality of poor people. I
want to show their struggle to survive," Rama said.