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Urban Horizon
2004 - 2005
Dimension varied
Photography



















Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara

Urban Horizon is a result of collaboration between the Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara and Erasmus Huis, curated by Oscar Motuloh. The photographers involved in the project are: Kemal Jufri, Arief Sunarya, Paul Kadarisman, Timur Angin, Mohammad Iqbal, Oscar Motuloh, and Maha Eka Swasta. Kemal Jufri now works as a freelance photographer. Arief Sunarya (born 1973) is a freelance writer and photographer. Paul Kadarisman (born 1974 in Jakarta) has exhibited his works of contemporary photography, “Collage of Image,” in the Oktagon Gallery, Jakarta (2002). Timur Angin was born in Yogyakarta 25 years ago. Now he works as a freelance photographer and contributor to the Jiwa Foto agency. Mohammad Iqbal (born 1971 in Jakarta) is an assistant-lecturer in the Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara. Maha Eka Swasta (born 1965 in Magelang) obtained his bachelor degree in geology in 1991, and joined the Bureau of Photography at the Antara News Agency in 1993. Oscar Motuloh (born 1959 in Surabaya) is the Head of Antara News Photography Agency and the Executive Director of the Antara Gallery for photojournalism.

A visual opinion is not only a personal visual opinion but also a window to see the world where we live in. Five young photographers + two working photojournalists have made pictures of urban life and its artefacts that have touched their 'optical' soul. Their work is also a kind of commentary on the photography medium they use.

It is a critical way to capture reality and confirms that photography is no longer objective, neutral nor democratic. This contradicts the opinion that journalistic photography is the keeper of truth and objectivity. As soon as the photographer chooses a subject, subjectivity comes into play. Photography then becomes no more than a medium to express their expression.

The perspective that Urban Horizon: a visual opinion tries to show is that of a central-peripheral pattern, an everyday life of dream and hypocrisy of the metropolitan society.

Eyes are the world and also the window of Urban Horizon. A photo series by Oscar Motuloh are the opening of this big theme. But life is starting from East Ancol, as a poetic series by Arief Sunarya opens the horizon of a cycle of harvesting by fisherman. Kemal Jufri offers his opinion about the cynicism and urban symbols that he sees. His pictures are a witness of social issues and have a political context.

Timur Angin, representing his generation, has recorded the passion of youngsters. Mohammad Iqbal has photographed transsexuals and in turn let they photograph him. Paul Kadarisman has captured the harsh lifestyle of the city. His work is called Pain and features the paradoxical life of city people. At the end of this visual opinion journey, Maha Eka Swasta spread the holocaust panorama of Aceh seashore as a global remembrance of peace.

On the Urban Horizon, there are still other dimensions considered as phenomena that can also be read as curse. There is still a putrid smell in the center of civilization and in the ruin of the metropolis. The chain of life is still running around over fate and lifestyle as thin as love and hate, or center and periphery, or glory and defeat. Therefore, let us eliminate boundaries, watch over our visual opinion as free as we are seeing our urban horizon. There is no photojournalism over here; this is like the freedom of the mind, as wild as flocks of mustangs in the wide-open field. (Oscar Motuloh)

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