day one (board meeting)
i met the board and staff members of Platform3 and we had a casual talk (ngobbrol ngobbrol) about the project. Via and Endira, who is managing the space gave me tutorials on how to handle the currency in Bandung. Honestly I think it would be a week before I completely master it. The two of them and Risa gave me an orientation of Bandung, a guide book (with details of good places to eat which is important, sustenance for the body is sustenance for the soul) and importantly how to get around. Gojek is the best way as it is only 10,000 rupiah at the moment (equivalent to a dollar!) for anywhere around 10km. Ojeks are bikes and Gojek is an app that standardised the cost and give you information about the driver. They also gave me details of places to visit. I also met Heru and Rifky, better known as Guro, both curators of Platform3. It was nerve-wrecking for me honestly to convey the reason of wanting to explore such a sensitive topic. Firstly, I am just an outsider to the place and secondly, I would only have about a month to develop the work. That aside, they were very open about the matter. However they voiced their concerns that it will be hard to penetrate the community with such a strong theme. Heru suggested asking Pak Rosid, who is the landlord and a brilliant self-taught artist, as he might know people who can provide me the right channels for discussion.
Rifky mentioned about Nice Boy, a photo exhibition that was done by Tino Jumini. He was adopted by a dutch family in the seventies. Apparently during the Sukarno era Dutch families were encouraged to adopt Indonesian children as a exchange of their cultural diplomacy. Dutch families, who were born in Indonesia, romanticised the ideals of Indonesia in their minds and in some warped sense of exoticization, bring a child back home with them similar how they would for souveneirs or keepsake of a place. The exhibition was called Nice Boy because he found a photo of himself as a child, with the words Nice Boy written at the back. The children were exploited as objects for political relations. Tino also seek out his real mother and found her. However, he did not prepare himself for the ugly realities which awaited him. The mother’s family had a sort of financial expectation placed on his return. He took his mother’s maiden name, Jumini. However I am not sure if he continued to mend ties with her afterwards. Heru also suggested visiting orphanages just in case they can connect me to their previous alumni.