PHOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AS AN EFFORT TO ARCHIVE HUMAN HISTORY IN VARIOUS ASPECTS

The Photography Study Program, Faculty of Recording Media Arts (FSMR), Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) Yogyakarta in collaboration with the American Institute for Indonesian Studies (AIFIS) held a webinar entitled "Finding Photographic Practice in Southeast Asia" on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. AIFIS is a consortium of 24 American Universities that encourages and develops a scholarly exchange between Indonesian and American researchers with an interest in Indonesian studies. The webinar, which was organized in collaboration between the two institutions, featured Brian Arnold (American Photographer)Charles Fox (Lecturer, the University of Nottingham Trent University, UK), and Pamungkas Wahyu Setiyanto, M.Sn (Lecturer in Photography Study Program, FSMR, ISI Yogyakarta) as speakers. The webinar, which was moderated by Adya Arsita, S.S., M.A., was attended by dozens of participants from various cities in Indonesia and even from abroad.

The Dean of the Faculty of Recording Media Arts (FSMR), Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) Yogyakarta, Dr. Irwandi, M.Sn., expressed his appreciation by stating that this webinar was a good start for the collaboration program between AIFIS and the Photography Study Program, FSMR, ISI Yogyakarta. The hope is that similar encounters are expected to continue and can enrich the insights and knowledge of photography for students, lecturers, and the general public. This was also emphasized by Faishol Adib, as Program Manager AIFIS for the Yogyakarta branch, who stated that the cooperation between AIFIS and the Photography Study Program is a continuation of the cooperation that was previously carried out between AIFIS and the Animation Study Program of FSMR ISI. He hopes that further cooperation programs can continue between AIFIS and FSMR ISI Yogyakarta.

During the webinar, the speakers presented their photography practices and research activities in Asian countries from social, economic, political, and cultural perspectives. Brian Arnold's love for Indonesia began when he started learning Javanese gamelan and gendings, until in early 1992-1994 his interest in Javanese culture grew to study Indonesian culture at large. The desire to know more about the culture became so strong that he began to do research and travel around Indonesia to document his journey from all social and cultural aspects. From these pockets of culture, Brian Arnold eventually found art communities or social communities that were interesting to document.

So did Charles Fox, a photojournalist who worked to record events in Cambodia. The social, political and humanitarian issues in the developing country caught his attention. He then decided to do a photography project presenting various issues from the country, to be published in renowned media such as Time, National Geographic, The Sunday Times, BBC Picture, and Aljazeera Picture.

One of his projects entitled 'Found Cambodia' presents documentation, archives, and the results of retracing sociocultural changes in Cambodia before and after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. The everyday photographic archives brought from the drawers, albums, and cupboards of the people there, can be an identification of what changes occurred to the social aspects of society due to a regime and a period of war that cost many lives. From personal project The, 'Found Cambodia' not only serves as a visual archive to understand societal changes but also an archive for Cambodian citizens to not forget the bitterness of the past.

Pamungkas Wahyu Setiyanto, M.Sn., who summarized the presentation of the two speakers, gave his view that the works made by Charles Fox and Brian Arnold are communication tools that tell the past, present and future. Charles Fox's photography projects capture social issues, such as a relief in a temple, because they can be studied and remembered by future generations. Meanwhile, Brian Arnold's adventure in documenting cultural events and social issues with long-term research has yielded very interesting results where the unthinkable for a local documentary photographer can be recorded very closely by Brian Arnold.