While appearing as  a non-conformist, our meeting with the man changed our perspective greatly as he warmly invited us to a humble dinner he was having with a few photographers and close associates before our Interview. We were told that most his students and peers idolizes and give him title as an esteemed photographer in Indonesia – to which he scornfully denies –  and when conversing with him, you couldn’t help but agree and be immersed to the depths of conservation and be swayed by the determination he holds for Indonesia, photography, and one’s right for freedom.

W: We read that you taught yourself photography, how did you get into photography and what initially drew your interest?

I taught myself because of my profession as a reporter. I became a reporter after I graduated from college, where I took a course in Antara News Agency, so my initial thought then when I finished that I would be a reporter. I joined in the year 1988,  it was only after two years as a reporter that in 1990 I moved to the photography division – where I had no background in – but I had the basic journalistic skills, so that is when I learned photography.

W: Were you were always interested in Journalism?

I never had an interested in Journalism, my only thought was I needed to work after I graduated and I took the chance to work anywhere. So I worked in Antara News Agency, where I took a course for a year and first became a sports reporter, then I started reporting different subjects. That is where I got my journalistic experience. My bosses had a plan to have people of my batch to continue photojournalism because a few of my seniors were retiring and the generation after it were not adapt for photojournalism.

So they appointed me, I wasn’t so pleased at first because I had no prior experience nor background in photography, but I still thought of it as an interesting offer, so with my background in writing/reporting, I was taught photography by my seniors and meeting fellow photojournalist on the field, asking technical tips on how to properly use the equipment. Eventually I found it interesting and thought about reporting from a visual perspective.

W: Seeing your photography work now, I noticed that many elements of your work depict sorrow and tragedy. Is that the way you see the world or is there an underlying message behind it?

The work that you’re mentioning is more of the personal works that I’ve been doing recently. I didn’t focus on detail before, because everyday I am on the field, where I would be taking shots of various objects or subjects for reporting purposes. Personally, I have always been attracted to something that is mysterious, something that has not been proven by science. When someone dies, they will never return to share his/her experience [of dying] right? So we can only question it. Death is an inevitable occurrence in our lives, I played around with that idea. I do this every time I finish reporting, where I spare the time afterward to take personal photographs that interest me.

Actually the exhibition in Amsterdam was a continuation of the photography exhibition held in Salihara Gallery. The exhibition titled “Soul Scape Road” is a part of a trilogy that I made about death. There was the“Art of Dying”, which came after “Nyanyian Peripheral”, before was “Suara dari Angkor”. “Suara dari Angkor” was my first exhibition shot in Siem Reap, and was exhibited in CCF, Jakarta. I chose artefacts because I felt the close relation to the political situation in Indonesia, when I was working on “Suara dari Angkor” there was already an anti-Soeharto protest going on and people started grow tiresome of the government -a similar view to what was happening to Middle East at that time.

From my personal point of view, what happened to Indonesia was similar to the history of Khmer Kingdom and the history of the Kingdoms during Borobudur’s reign. So I tried to take part of the history of Hindu Buddha in Central Java and relate it to the history of what occurred in Jakarta, so “Suara dari Angkor” wasn’t only about Angkor, but it was related to the condition we faced everyday when President Soeharto exclaimed “Indonesia negara bahari!”. What I mean is, during that time, history was history, and you can’t idolize history, the future is meant to be filled by the next generation, to progress for people who live in the present. And I feel Siem Reap’s history is very similar to ours. They have always refered to the past until the Kingdom collapsed and I thought Indonesia was heading the same direction. Next was “Carnaval”. “Carnaval” resulted after Indonesia’s reformation, the title chosen after Soeharto’s fall. Ending with “The Art of Dying”, the work based on graveyards in France and is this sort of reflection of the post-reformation politics. Perhaps people do not have the same view as I, but the work itself is a platform to build discussion.

W: So it is more of an observation. How do you relate it to the Soul Scape Road Exhibition, didn’t that capture the lumpur lapindo events and the calamity in Merapi?

Yes, it was a personal observation that I did in Black and White, “Soul Scape Road” is actually a compilation of all the exhibitions above, highlighting the catastrophe that occurred in Indonesia and how the events were reflected. When I am reporting, I would capture images as a witness to tell people “This is what happened in point A”, for “Soul Scape Road” I captured the shots personally, so the images are my personal reflections of the news. Usually, the images are purely landscapes and objects, if there are people in it, their role in the picture is minor. My objective in exhibiting these images is to incite from viewers a feeling of ‘appreciating life’ from imagining themselves in that situation. That is rough idea behind it.

W: From the entire exhibition that you have made, can we say that it extends your disappointment and sadness of what is happening in Indonesia?

I wouldn’t say that, if you looked at the subject it may appear pessimistic, but I myself am not a pessimist. I always observe things from and an angle where I look for a solution. If we see things that are already beautiful it is already the solution in its imagery so I prefer to look elsewhere. It’s a process of digging deeper, before you talk about a plan see the negative consequences of it. My work, as you said earlier, is a depiction of what is currently happening. The fact is after our independence all people no matter the differences were supposed to be equals, but during Soeharto’s regime he was uniforming everyone. And now during this post-reformation era certain groups want us to adhere to the same agenda and point of views, and I don’t agree with that. So I express that opinion through my work, and the symbol that represent it is death.