VOLUME 2
VOLUME 1: THE UNFORGIVING MOUNTAIN
THE COASTAL LINE FACING INDIAN OCEAN
Somewhere in the coastal line of West Java facing Indian Ocean lays a road built by a private corporation, and was used to serve mining activities many years ago. The place, holding abundant reserves of iron ore, was fought by many since 1980s, and had seen multiple times of changes in ownership as well as exploration permit. This stretch of road marked the once hectic exploitation out of massive investment. Continue reading “THE COASTAL LINE FACING INDIAN OCEAN”
Penangkapan Diponegoro restoration
The forty grand dollars worth of restoration made way to Raden Saleh’s three paintings. The 1857 realistic painting Penangkapan Diponegoro implies pejorative meaning towards the Dutch colonials. Continue reading Penangkapan Diponegoro restoration
Singapore some time ago
Before there is the monolithic Marina Bay Sands or the hustle of Formula One night race, the city state of Singapore was not soring to the eye or too choking as it is now. Then, the city was the center of attention largely for its durian-shaped theater on the bay “Esplanade”, opened in 2002. Continue reading Singapore some time ago
DREAM A LITTLE BIT OF ME
The article also appeared in the Jakarta Post, 23 January 2015, The Street Painters in Kota Tua.
Sat facing each other as thoughts were focused on the chess board down the pavement, two street painters killed time in an unlikely corner of Jakarta. Portrait pieces hung on the wall of a rundown building around busy intersection in the old district of Kota Tua, making an impression that the trapped eyes inside the frames were watching the chess game. Sat on a stool close to a frame stand, these marginalized painters had settled around for a long time. Their tools occupied half side of the sidewalk. Continue reading “DREAM A LITTLE BIT OF ME”
The sugar workers
125 years ago, the Dutch Empire began shipping Javanese laborers from its East India colony to work in sugarcane plantations in Suriname, owned largely by British and Dutch businesses. Continue reading The sugar workers
Shoalwater Islands Marine Park
Shoalwater Islands Marine Park is one of the most protected natural habitats in Australia classified as Class A Reserves. The status gives protection for the surface and the submerged areas, covering over 6000 hectares, for the sake of biological diversity in the marine park. Continue reading Shoalwater Islands Marine Park
Exuberant and uninhibited
There has not been any feverish polemic on art in Indonesia like what happened in the past. The memory of the 1974 Desember Hitam (Black December) manifesto following the disillusioned young artists in the defeat and humiliation in the art competition of that year held by Jakarta Art Council reemerges at the same place 40 years later, in Taman Ismail Marzuki. Continue reading Exuberant and uninhibited
think archipelago 