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Mapping the Southeast I was hoping to find something there that I did not know before. A piece of work, or a photographer who interprets his country, his sense of belonging in a way that a westerner does not. Instead I came across an attitude that was very much influenced by international photojournalism, a kind of neo-colonialist view of people living under not-so-favourable circumstances. Why are young photographers in Southeast Asia so keen on reproducing a visual structure which dates back fifty years, and which was invented to fuel a booming magazine and newspaper industry in the golden days of western print media? In my workshops from Hanoi to Singapore, from Jakarta to Manila, I was not trying to pave the way to success for participants nor was I interested in delivering a formula for their instant recognition in the West. Instead I tried to open a door that allows the individual photographer to explore his or her own interest, to focus on issues which others might have overlooked before. The images in this catalogue bear witness to an amazing potential of creativity and passion for the medium of photography. The results are as different as the cities and the individual photographers who produced them. Do not attempt to only show what it looks like, but try to communicate what it might feel like, was one of my mantras in the workshops. Only after half a year I realized that my western and also very German search for a “Southeast Asian view of the Urban Environment” turned out to be a rather academic goal. I do believe in retrospect that the real benefit of this series of workshops was communication and the sharing of ideas. We opened up our minds to other ideas, other backgrounds and other cultural determinations. Along the way, I, the “teacher”, learned probably more from the workshops than the participants can imagine in their wildest dreams. Thank you all for that! Everything is in flux and I am convinced that in a few years time we will see a lot of Southeast Asian photography made by artists native to the region. It might be impossible to expect something like a purely “Southeast Asian view” within our globalized culture, where ideas communicate at the speed of light through the Internet. But I do believe the work we will be seeing will be interesting, fresh and vital. This exhibition and catalogue might not yet be considered a milestone, but it is definitely an important step in that direction. |
Peter Bialobrzeski Hamburg |
