Why I’m Here…
Visual culture is a relatively new field in the process of identifying itself, and as a growing discipline it is certainly exciting to experience first hand its constant transformations and refinements. This field is also a rare and potential dimension to be explored, distinctly in Indonesia, which is a visually engaging culture. Indonesians dwell on the visual, culturally and socially, propagated mostly by tradition, dominant cultural custom, hegemonic regimes, and in recent decade by globalization, fueled by the information technology revolution, by the media, and by visual communication. Therefore, this makes the disembodied image palpable and vital to the foundations of traditional and contemporary Indonesian lifestyle. This in turn creates many disparities, debate, and polarity between globalization and conservative traditionalism, between the West and the Others, or between democracy and religious fundamentalism. These disjunctures project an increasing debate in the plural Indonesian contemporary culture, which seems to reject the tangents from the polar discourse, evident mostly in the West. I find this thesis fascinating to represent, because of my practical and intellectual background, and as an Indonesian aware of its societal position.
