Unhistoried dan sebuah cerita nglantur di 1990an

Keluarga saya boleh dibilang sebagai keluarga yang hanya sedikit memiliki arsip, termasuk arsip foto. Sejak saya lahir, saya belum pernah--atau pernah, namun lupa--melihat foto kakek dari ayah dan ibu serta nenek dari ayah yang wafat sebelum saya lahir. Bahkan ketika rumah dan tangga orang tua saya mulai menetap di Kota Malang, arsip foto minim  bisa saya nikmati. 

Pun ketika orang tua saya berziarah ke tanah suci, salah satu kenangan yang teringat adalah satu rol film yang hangus akibat tustel pinjaman yang dibawa ke tanah suci terbuka dengan tak sengaja. Tak berapa lama kemudian, beberapa simpanan klise/negatif foto keluarga yang menyimpan rekaman cikal bakal keluarga bapak dan ibu saya yang saya kumpulkan akhirnya raib, mungkin akibat pindah rumah atau memang dianggap sebagai tumpukan kecil dokumen tak bersejarah. Untungnya, kami masih memiliki beberapa album serta satu cetakan foto pernikahan bapak dan ibu yang terpajang di dapur (meskipun dalam foto ini sebenarnya yang tampak adalah nenek saya, foto berdua ayah ibu entah kemana). 

Ruang Antara: (Ke)manusia(an) dan Sang Liyan dalam ENCOUNTERS

Sebetulnya, karena beberapa minggu ini saya telah, sedang, dan masih bergelut dengan masalah pelik mengenai ruang (space), maka saya sempatkan menulis beberapa catatan mengenai ruang pertemuan yang ditawarkan Rony dalam buku fotonya, Encounters.  Awalnya sih dulu ketika pertama menikmati buku foto ini saya cukup bingung dengan metafora visual yang disajikan oleh Rony, karena sebuah pertemuan (yang umumnya lebih bahagia dari perpisahan) ditampilkan seolah-oleh menjadi sesuatu yang mencekam, sangat-sangat asing, misterius, dan menakutkan (yang saya kira adalah efek ‘misteriusisasi’, yang tidak diketahui itu menakutkan karena belum difikirkan antisipasinya)

Saya melihat bahwa beberapa respon ruang mengenai perjumpaan dengan Sang Asing (Liyan)[1] dalam narasi-narasi visual buku foto ini. Pertama yaitu perjumpaan awal dengan Sang Asing ketika keasingan begitu mencekam, kedua ketika Sang asing mulai menampakkan wujudnya, ketiga yaitu ketika Sang Asing bukan lagi sang asing[2].

Remang

Pada matanya senja tenggelam

dan di ranting lentik bulu mata

mimpi bertengger,

berkicau tentang purnama hitam

Ia tanam bunga bernama kenangan

di pot kecil dalam remang kantuk matanya.

Bunga rapuh itu mekar

membangun belantara mimpi rindu

dibalik kelam, mata yang terpejam

Bulan apa yang paling kau rindukan?

Bulan purnama hitam yang terang temaram,

bulan ketika aku menatap bola matamu

Rindu,

rindu-rindumu adalah ragu,

antara memangkas jarak

atau mengulur waktu

Jogjakarta 082014

Air Untuk Indonesiaku

Indonesia adalah negeri dengan beribu-ribu kepulauan, sehingga sebagian besar wilayahnya adalah perairan. Bangsa Indonesia dihubungkan oleh jalinan perairan dari sabang sampai ujung merauke. Dengan banyaknya pulau-pulau di Indonesia, maka budaya nya pun beragam. Namun perbedaan tersebut hendaknya dimaknai dengan positif, sesuai pedoman negara kita, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika", berbeda-beda namun tetap satu jua!

Air merupakan hal yang sangat penting bagi kehidupan bangsa kita, air menjalin erat hubungan persaudaraan antara kita Bangsa Indonesia. Dari air gunung, hingga air laut mengalirlah darah kebangsaan dan kekayaan alam Indonesia. 

Beberapa siswa SDN Ngadas, di pegunungan Tengger sedang bermain air aliran dari sumber. Semenjak dibangunnya sistem aliran air sumber, kini aliran dan penyimpanan air dapat diatur dengan lebih baik. Kekayaan sumber air di salah satu desa di Pegunungan Tengger ini begitu melimpah sehingga mampu untuk menghidupi semua penduduk desa. 

Siswa SDN Ngadas di pegunungan Tengger sedang menyirami tanaman di dalam pot sekolah. Setiap siraman air bisa menjadi sumber kehidupan baik bagi manusia maupun tumbuhan. Dengan air yang bersih lahirlah kehidupan yang sehat dan lebih baik.

Seorang anak di Suku Asmat sedang mandi di sore hari di dekat tandon penyimpanan air tadah hujan. Air bersih begitu langka di SawaErma, desa terpencil di ujung timur Indonesia ini. Penyimpanan air tadah hujan merupakan ide yang cemerlang untuk mengatasi masalah air bersih di wilayah Asmat dan membawa kehidupan menjadi lebih sehat dan lebih baik. 

Kelas Inspirasi

"what do you want to be when you grow up?"
this was a quite confusing question asked to me when I was a child. 

Children that day, including me seemed to know nothing about a profession or a job other than a doctor, president, pilot, train driver, soldier, farmer, and teacher. We were all blind about what will we become when we've grown up because it seemed like future is something un-imaginable, untouched. So, we had just those portrays of grown-man profession, if I may say, a little dream of 90s children. 

under the trees.

I was bored, I had no big idea what to photograph in this weekend. I feel a lack of enthusiasm walking on hot day, in the busy street together with the smoky-dusty polluted air. So I decide that I need to bring back my passion, my spirit to do this 'weekend snap-shooting' activity by doing it with the medium I never used before.

There always be a fresh new impression using new medium or tools, I call it as "syndrom barang baru" (thanks to Mas Donny for lending me his M8). Because of the 'wake-up-early-disability', I got the camera at about 11 o'clock, not a really good time to walk under the hot sun. So we headed to Alun-alun Malang, having some snapshots in the less-polluted area, mostly in the park surrounded by trees. And here they are, some photographs I took with the borrowed camera. hahahahaha...

In a hot mid-day, Alun-alun's green grass is heaven. It was a favourite place to lay down, to sit, or having small picnic with family. Some people choose to stay in a shady area under the trees. So am I, avoiding the hot sun and snapshooting under the trees today.

PASSING by Edy Purnomo

It was almost half year ago since I opened the book and I found this beautiful line of Robert Frost poem. Usually the line is repeated twice as how it is actually written, reading this one fine cut-line is new for me. It is like the lines continues even I did not read the previous lines and the last line. The whole poem is just like sesomnating in my head, and I know where the book is going to take me, an endless journey. 

LUCKY 100 in Tengger

It was a cloudy Saturday (12/15) when I, Boljug and AndiBlidz went to visit Jarak Ijo village in Tengger mountain range. We had decided to visit the village one week earlier to find some information about Unan-unan, a traditional ritual which will be held at the end of the 2012.

It was fun even we should ride trough little rain from Malang to Jarak Ijo. The visit to Tengger always fascinates me, its amazing view, fresh air, and the hospitable and friendly people. So, I decided to spend one roll of Lucky SHD 100 to take the photograph of both villages, Jarak Ijo and Ngadas. I wished that the weather would be a little bit cloudy. Fortunately, the weather was perfect as I expected. So, here they are, several frames I took in Jarak Ijo using 35mm lens and Lucky SHD 100.

welcoming changes.

I have spent several times photographing the development of my hometown, Malang. Today, I planned to re-photograph one of the construction, but I was surprised to know the building is almost finished. It was about half year ago since I noticed a new construction in Kedungkandang. I spent several hours to pay a visit, photographing, and collecting information before i find out that it is a construction of a new housing project (rumah susun).

I think that i haven't had the best shot of this construction. I feel that I need to take another shot this morning, so I packed my camera and go to the construction area. I feel a little bit unlucky because I find out that the building is almost finished. But that's okay because I already notice and witness the change of my city, visually. The almost-finished rumah susun will surely triggers interesting development and change worth to be observed further.

Sinau Bareng

Sinau Bareng, an independent movement by several youngsters in Malang. The program is purposed to help student’s problem about school lessons and  also to stimulate children to be interested in studying. By conducting the program everyday at about 18.00, sinau bareng has helped many students doing their homework, also answering things they can’t probably ask to a teacher. The volunteers, whom I might say as a teachers or even friends to the students are mostly college students. Besides, some are workers who are willing to spend their leisure time with children.

Until now, about 36 children are consistently joining the program with about 10 teachers. The students are divided into three groups based on school grade, pre-school, elementary school, and junior high school. The class are now located in Klojen, Malang after the first place was hauled by government.  There are many reasons why the program is continued, one of those is because there still a chance to help.