Bandung, an Eagle's Gaze: “My Indonesia” Photo Series (5)—PART ONE

“Gunung teu meunang dilebur,
Sagara teu meunang diruksak,
buyut teu meunang dirempak.”
(Peribahasa Sunda Baduy)

“Don't destroy the mountain,
Don't damage the sea,
Don't violate the sacred places.”
(Sundanese Baduy Proverb)

Kampung Pandai. Cicalengka. Bandung, 9 October 2017

 

Certainly the city that I love most, after Jakarta, is Bandung, where the Mizan publishing house that published my books is located, and where there are among my best friends from our large photographic community “Laskar Kampungku” to defend cultural heritage of villages in Indonesia. Bandung, not surprisingly, is considered the city of Photography, with its festivals and photographic exhibitions every month.

 

But it is not the city that I want to talk about, rather its peripheral part, that of the kampung.

Immersed in the greenery and in which I spent one of the most unforgettable days; among rice pickers, tahu factories, weddings and Arabic lessons for the children of the hills.

This time too I leave the photos to tell. Because, as I have already written, words will never be enough to describe what one feels, or what the eyes see.

Even the concept of “suasana kampung” is an impossible translation, only those who have walked in those places and breathed those colors and smells can understand what the “atmosphere of the village” is. Much better to give up telling in words and let the eyes of the heart enjoy this journey that I divided into two parts.

Moving from one area to another, from one district to another, as often happens when you go to photograph in those places, from morning to evening, resting sometimes everyone sitting on the ground in front of a steaming cup of black coffee, with the sweaty face and the smile printed on the face.

 

Dedicated to all the people I met and have been with me in those days.

 

Kampung Baron. Cicalengka, 9 October 2017

Tahu factory. Kampung Kebon Kapas. Cicalengka, 9 October 2017

Woman prepares tahu at home. Kampung Kebon Kapas. Cicalengka, 9 October 2017

Kampung Pandai. Cicalengka, 9 October 2017

On the high valleys of the Desa Mekarmanik, among the dense vegetation and the dirt roads, there is a little community far from the city and its modernity, where even television is a luxury and to reach the Arabic classes, children must walk down muddy and slippery slopes, but it's also where you can still find the beautiful traditional wooden stilt houses (“rumah panggung”).

The “Odesa Indonesia” Foundation is active in this area and has opened a school for about fifty children in this poor and closed area, where children often grow up without ever seeing the city, marrying young to each other and being able to do only the jobs that these places allow.

It's only thanks to culture that it's possible to give this generation of children an opportunity, because they are the sacred place of Indonesia.

 

Kampung Sentak Dulang, Desa  Mekarmanik. Cimenyan, 15 October 2017

Suggested song: Rita Tila “Dadali Manting”

Italian version