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.