Showing the work by the following artists:

 

DEVOTION

by AGUNG PARAMESWARA (Indonesia)

These are visual fragments of the photographer’s personal experience as a Balinese Hindu. It is a personal project that illustrates the close relationship between the Balinese Hindu community and their ancestors. The photographs document how the Balinese perform their bhakti with sincerity – addressing God as well as their ancestors.

Agung Parameswara is a freelance photographer from Bali, Indonesia.

 

ONCE UPON A TIME IN KATHMANDU

by ALAIN VAN HILLE (Belgium)

There was a time when Kathmandu was a quiet city, devoid of chaos, noise and pollution. The most disturbing sounds were that of bicycle bells and at night, barking dogs. In those days, when the photographer was crisscrossing the Kathmandu Valley taking pictures, everyone seemed happy and content. Those were the magic days of Kathmandu.

Alain van Hille is a photographer based in Brussels, Belgium.

 

BRICKFIELDS

by EIFFEL CHONG (Malaysia)

In an abandoned police station in Kuala Lumpur, the photographer comes across a scattered set of identity photographs of detainees. They serve as a reminder of the effect each act that landed them in prison had upon the detainees’ soul, and each sin displayed as disfigurement. They led him to wonder what exactly had happened to these people. Brickfields is a series where each identity photograph is re-photographed in the studio, treated as dimensional objects marked by the detritus of time. It acts as the metaphor for the corruptibility of ideals and order as embodied in the law.

Eiffel Chong (b. 1977) is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

 

THE TWELFTH NIGHT

by EMANUELE CAMERINI (Italy)

It is believed that on the Twelfth Night after Christmas, in Kalsoy, seals come ashore, shed their skin and transform themselves into beautiful humans, and before the sun rises, they put their seal skins back on and return to the sea. But one night, a farmer comes across the seal women dancing and falls in love with one of them. He steals her seal skin and brings her home, locking the skin away in a chest and carrying the key on a chain around his neck. They have children and lead a married life, but one day while out fishing, the man forgets his chain and key. When he returns home, the seal woman has left. She is never seen again. But people believe that those who are born with webbed toes are her descendants.

Emanuele Camerini (b. 1987) is a freelance photographer who divides his time between Italy and Denmark.

 

STORIES

by GUILLERMO SRODEK-HART (United States of America)

The old stores and shops in the small rural towns of the Argentine Pampas preserve the traditions passed down from one generation to the next. At present, many have disappeared due to changes in regional economies and a generational vacuum. Modern times conspire against those that still remain operative; yet, they continue to function with their own idiosyncrasies –they are extensions of their owners’ lives. As the last old folk vanish, so do these beautiful buildings, together with the life histories they hold.

Guillermo Srodek-Hart (b.1977) is a photographer based in Boston, USA.

 

DECEITFUL REVERENCE

by IGOR PISUK (Poland/Sweden)

In this long-term project, the photographer has attempted to bare his inner feelings and dreams. This is a kind of photography where the intimate world becomes the subject and also the form of expression. Deceitful Reverence is a multi-layered story about loneliness and emigration. It is an individual, personal look at the inner and outer worlds, which constantly stir and interact with one another.

Igor Pisuk (b.1984) is a photographer based in Poland.

 

NEITHER

by KATE NOLAN (Ireland)

Neither is an exploration into the hearts of young women in Kaliningrad, Russia. The first generation to have grown up after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they look to define their identity in this small ‘island’. Neither uses an epistolary style of writing along with historical accounts, combined with images, to give the women of Kaliningrad a personalized voice. The work becomes a collaboration, as the artist builds close relationships with Natasha, Olga, Jenya and Anastasyia, to incorporate their own ‘diary’ entries of dreams, love, disappointment and fears.

Kate Nolan is an Irish visual artist.

 

FAILED DIORAMAS

by LOUIS DE BELLE (Germany)

Failed Dioramas shows that a collection can still go awry regardless of its rare and exotic objects. The photographer’s point of view opens new relations between animal trophies and the surrounding settings that turn apartment into a diorama-esque backdrop. Like the backgrounds in natural history museum dioramas, the apartments appear slightly unreal, a space out of time and on the verge of neglect or disappearance. This can be regarded as a reminiscence of a lost world that has ceased to exist or maybe only ever existed in imagination.

Louis De Belle is an Italian photographer, currently based in Berlin.

 

PRECIOUS PEACH

by LULU LIAO (China)

In an ambiguous atmosphere, amidst the dazzling lights and thrilling music of Beijing gay bars, Peach discovers his actual self. As an exotic dancer, nobody knows Peach’s background and his past in the Shadong countryside. Later, close to his hometown, posing by the sea, he asks the photographer, “Am I pretty?” For him, love is something that you may encounter but not something you can ask for. He is always full of hope for the future, even if it feels unreachable.

Lulu Liao is a photographer based in Beijing, China.

 

NONA DJAWA

by MEICY SITORUS (Indonesia)

Nona Djawa is a part of the ‘Mataoli’ documentary photography series, which focuses on the history of Jugun Ianfu survivors, who were enslaved into prostitution during the Japanese colonization of Indonesia (1943-1945). A collaborative project with Ekahindra, an independent researcher on Japanese colonialism, this photo series takes us through the history of Jugun Ianfu survivors in the island of Java in Indonesia. Divided into chapters, Ianfu survivors portray the Ianjos (brothel houses), the daily lives of survivors, their families and their conditions 72 years post-colonization.

Meicy Sitorus is a photographer based in Bandung, Indonesia.

THE SWEET SUGAR ISLAND

by RONY ZAKARIYA (Indonesia)

Everything tastes sweet on the island of Java. Going back to the days of Dutch administration, Java was one of the biggest producers of sugar in the world. Today, only 60 factories remain. Indonesia is now the world’s second biggest importer of sugar, after Russia. Cultural celebrations, big steam machineries and hard working laborers remain as remnants of the sweet glory days of the past.

Rony Zakariya is a photographer based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

PRESENCE OF ABSENCE

by SHAHRIA SHARMIN (Bangladesh)

While a journey by train is intertwined with necessity and emergency, the vehicle comes to become a repository of the mixed emotions of thousands of commuters. As the layers of human experience build over time and distance, the train itself becomes a precious retainer of the collective unconscious. It becomes a witness to echoes of laughter and tears as the bearer of lost possessions and the observer of human intentions.

Shahria Sharmin is a photographer from Bangladesh.