Galeri R. J. Katamsi in Yogyakarta plays host to an inaugural photography festival exploring issues of inclusion and exclusion in sociopolitical narratives and history
This inaugural photography festival is an ambitious showcase that explores issues of inclusion and exclusion in sociopolitical narratives and history. Starting with the idea of a ‘frame’ (the festival is titled Mengukur Panjang dan Lebar Sebuah Bingkai, which translates as A Strategy to Measure a Frame), the exhibition investigates what falls outside any definition of narratives deemed ‘worthy’ of representation. Many of the works, by 29 photographers and artists from around the world, investigate how photography can give voice to historically marginalised communities in parts of Asia and beyond. The lower floors of Galeri R. J. Katamsi offer reasonably straightforward documentary works, and as we move up through the four levels, the idea of ‘fotografis’ (photographic) instead of ‘fotografi’ (photography) takes over, resulting in an expanded view of photography as a genre that hybridises easily with video, text-based works, performance and installation, extending the possibilities of the photographic medium.
On the ground floor, a standout series is This is Us (?) (2019–), by Aceh-based Riska Munawarah. Six images of women in black hijabs confront the viewer with their anonymity. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that applies sharia law, and in 2006 the government mandated the wearing of the hijab for all Acehnese Muslim women. In between the larger prints, Munawarah shows three smaller images of her mother and aunt without headscarves in 1982, giving us a more intimate and private glimpse of a time of greater freedom, and where women had greater participation in society.
Moving upstairs, Eat with great delight (2018), by Rajyashri Goody, explores the artist’s Dalit heritage and calls attention to Dalit communities that suffer under the caste system. Heartwarming photographs of her family, taken from the 1980s to the 2000s, depict relatives socialising and gathering over food. Food has been a central theme for Goody, who was born and raised in Pune in a half-Dalit household. Since 2017 she has been collecting extracts of Dalit literature mentioning food, and compiling them into books of recipes.
Meanwhile, Posak Jodian’s Misafafahiyan Metamorphosis (2022–) takes us to Taiwan’s indigenous Amis tribes, and the moving story of Misafafahiyan, a seventy-year-old trans Amis performer. The work features a 16-minute documentary-style video covering their life – from their training as a hairdresser and their performances in glitzy dresses and headdresses in Taipei and Japan. The artist also included three jigsaw puzzles showing Misafafahiyan’s portrait, alluding to how indigenous peoples can self-construct their own images.
Finally, expanding on the conception of photography beyond hanging prints on the wall is Bahwasanya Anda di Lembâna (Now That You Are in Lembâna, 2022–23), an installation about life in a village in Madura, the hometown of the art collective Lembâna Artgroecosystem. The work is a multimedia and microcosmic ‘recording’ of life in the village. There is a video depicting mundane everyday life of the villagers. On another wall is a long novelistic narrative describing a day in the Madura (‘It is 6am, the morning sun cast a shadow on Mrs XX’s shop…’). Artefacts such as sarung (a fabric worn by man and woman as a skirtlike garment) are also presented. Here, echoing the theme of the festival, the ‘photographic’ is an approach and philosophy – an attentive curiosity towards life – rather than a medium.
Jogja Fotografis Festival 2023 at Galeri R. J. Katamsi, Yogyakarta, 18 August – 11 September
