Moeka
Djakarta is a photographic exposition of Jakarta as seen through the eyes of three
young men: Nicholas Hilman, Nicholas Raditya Santoso, and William Tan.
Driven
by passion for their work and for their city, what began as little more than a school
Personal Project assignment quickly outgrew its origins to become a photographical
testament of Jakarta in both the past and present tense.
Aiming
neither to praise nor to criticize, Moeka Djakarta seeks only to portray
Jakarta exactly as it is seen in everyday life by its many inhabitants. From
the lowly slums to the skyscraping office complexes, from the dank landfills to
the glamorous malls, from ancient Dutch buildings to modern contemporary
architecture, Moeka Djakarta is meant to depict the true essence of the city of
Jakarta, an essence which in our belief is often unacknowledged by the public.
In
this sense, Moeka Djakarta is truly unprecedented in scope, goal, and
execution. In scope, because the photographs contained within it portray nearly
every niche of life that is found in Jakarta. In goal, because this
photographical depiction of this nation's capital is meant solely to present a
clear picture of the city's current condition, without being mired in political
or social agendas. In execution, because it was accomplished not by
professional photographers and artists, but by three talented, dedicated and hardworking
teenagers, who aim to dispel the notion that such level of artistic expression
is limited only to adults.
Our story
It
all began with a tenth Grade project, where each student was required to
complete a yearlong project as our final assessment. We had the opportunity to
create anything we pleased without any barriers, and thus, the possibilities
were endless. Coincidently, we are all photography and design enthusiasts, and
with that, we decided to unite our interests and develop it into a photo book.
However,
what started as a school project became a pursuit of a greater dream. We wanted
to take this project to a different level. It occurred to us that very few
coffeetable books were ever published about Jakarta in its current state.
Lengthy texts and lifeless photos are the common form of expressing the true
face of our beloved city.
Jakarta
is the melting pot of Indonesia, where the diverse cultures in Indonesia coalesce,
and it is this idea we wanted to capture and embody in a meticulous highend coffee-table
book.
Yet,
the fuel of our motivation did not end there. Our ultimate vision in creating
this photo book is to set a prime example that would drive the youth of
Indonesia to strive for higher dreams. Many teenagers choose to rather spend
time not being productive and nonchalantly hang out at malls instead. We
believe they are detrimental to Indonesia’s future, which is why one way of
moving our country forward is to motivate and broaden the horizons of these
teenagers. Learning rudimentary skills at school simply would not suffice. We
wanted to prove to them that they could achieve so much more with the time and
resources they have. We young people are capable!
And
we certainly did not fall short of that vision.
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| Nicholas Hilman, Nicholas Raditya Santoso, William Tan |
Bio
Nicholas
Hilman, Nicholas Raditya Santoso, and William Tan, are three aspiring highschool
seniors attending Sekolah Pelita Harapan, who are driven by passion for photography,
design and their city. Aiming to inspire young people in Indonesia to dream and
achieve greater things, as well as to raise public awareness of the current state
of the nation’s capital, these three young photographers undertook what was seen
as unlikely by many and created their very own photographic testament of Jakarta.
They transfigured what began as a school assignment into a published work of
art, Moeka Djakarta.
Curatorial: A visual narrative uncorrupted
by experience. By Martin Westlake
“The
meaning of quality in photography’s best pictures lies written in the language
of vision. That language is learned by chance, not system; … our overwhelming
formal education deals in words, mathematical figures and methods of rational thought,
not in images.” Walker Evans, London, 1977.
Some
160 years ago, two British photographers – Woodbury and Page – became the first
to photograph Jakarta. Then known as Batavia, the city would later become the capital
city of Indonesia. The subjects of their sepia-toned albumen silver prints were
of buildings, street scenes, and studio portraits of expatriate families and
officials. J.A.
Meessen,
a Dutch photographer working for the Netherlands Topographical Bureau, was also
one of the first to document government buildings, as well as the prestigious accomplishments
of the Dutch in the East Indies.
Much
has changed since the pioneering days of the Victorian travel photographers – particularly
the development of digital camera technology, which now gives photographers the
freedom to shoot handheld day and night. Jakarta, too, has also changed
considerably. Residents have observed Jakarta’s skyline transform — from a well-planned
Dutch ‘garden’ city into a one of the largest and densely-packed cities in the
world; it is over-populated, grid-locked, and polluted. It is no longer a
beautiful nor a romantic place.
In
June 2010, Nicholas Hilman, William Tan, and Raditya Santoso, three 15 year-old
high school students from Sekolah Pelita Harapan, began photographing Jakarta
as part of a yearlong personal project. All three were interested in graphic
design and had a deep passion for photography. Inspired by many photo books in
bookstores, they became determined to publish a book focused on their hometown.
Some may consider Indonesia’s capital city to be a difficult place to
photograph, but Hilman, Tan, and Santoso have skillfully managed to reach
beneath the chaos and blandness of Jakarta’s surface by selecting their
subjects with great care and attentiveness. Seeing the city through three
different pairs of ‘eyes’ gives greater depth to this collection of photographs
and allows for a broader view. Though still young and in the process of learning
photography, these young men have produced a fine set of images.
For
instance, Hilman’s image of cyclists on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman shows Jakarta’s
main street devoid of traffic on a car-free day: a rare, quiet moment on the
usually busy and grid-locked thoroughfare. Tan’s photograph of two nannies
walking their employers’ huskies in a housing complex appropriately gives an
insight into the world of the Jakarta’s rich. Raditya’s shot of the kitsch
creations of Jakarta’s property developers, taken from the rooftop of a huge
shopping mall, could have misled anyone that the image must have been shot
anywhere — including Saudi Arabia!
The
most remarkable characteristic of the work of these teenage photographers is undoubtedly
their clear vision. Their images are fresh and dynamic, managing to present a
unique view of one of Asia’s most important cities through their youthful eyes.
Jakarta as seen through the eyes of teenagers may be a naïve vision, but the concept
creates a visual narrative uncorrupted by experience or encumbered by technicality.
