Every year Jakarta sinks 7,5 to 25 cm due to the effects of subsidence. As a result, a large part of the city may be submerged in about twenty to thirty years. Photographer Cynthia Boll travelled to the Indonesian capital several times to make a photo series. With this series she won the Silver Camera in 2018.
One of the photos from her series can be seen as a photo wallpaper in Rialto for World Cinema Amsterdam. We asked her more about her work.
Subsidence in Jakarta, why did you choose this topic?
Topics usually come to me because I catch something in the news. This also applies to this one. When I was watching the NOS news in 2013, I heard the director of Van Oord tell about the construction of a sea wall in the bay of Jakarta. It would take thirty years and the cost were calculated around 40 billion dollars.
The Netherlands was involved and I thought, what is going on there? So I searched for more information to see if the subject was photographically interesting. If yes, for whom then? What is it about and what is the problem? That's how it started.
Now that you've been there, did you gain extra feeling for this place?
The photo series is actually part of a bigger project. I started a social media campaign in Jakarta in 2014 to make young people in the city aware of subsidence. We worked with a whole team on videos, cartoons and polls on Facebook and followed four people for a longer period. This series is actually a collection of photos of what I have done there in recent years. So it has never been my goal to make a photo report. The approach was different.
How do people react to you and your camera?
Indonesia and in particular Jakarta is a very easy, fairly simple city. People are open and you can just take photos, they don't mind. Everyone takes pictures of each other and you get photographed yourself. In that sense there is no barrier. People are also curious. You can imagine that if you spend a large part of the day on your doorstep, that it is nice to have a little distraction. In addition, the city is modern and they often see Westerners. You are not special.
Plus, I am there with a goal of visualizing things. If you don't want to be in the picture, that’s fine, I won’t make a picture of you. I’m very journalistic. So it's not like I’m walking around as a tourist, seeing two men sitting on a bench thinking: hey, they look nice, let’s take a picture of them.
What’s the one thing that you won’t forget about your trip to Jakarta?
When we talk about nuisance in the Netherlands, it is something subjective. If your cellar is flooded here, it’s a big thing. But when you regularly have to deal with flooding, habituation occurs and you start to think it's normal. Like it’s something that comes with it. So what’s extraordinary and irritating for us, is part of your life there.
Do the residents of Jakarta realize how serious the situation is?
No. But when you think about it, not everyone in the Netherlands knows that there’s subsidence in the polder. Moreover, there have always been floods. Only the threat of the water is not due to what they are used to, it is due to the sea. In addition, the city changes into a dimple so the water no longer flows away. The lowest point therefore remains in the city. The information provision is also different than in the Netherlands. Many people do not read newspapers and receive a lot of information via social media or by listening to the radio. If a subject plays less, you will not get much information about it. This means that there are many people who hardly know what is happening in the country. The government does not feel the urgency either. It is not a high issue on the political agenda. That’s also a thing.
Who do you hope to reach with this photo series?
The original target group was young people between the ages of eighteen and thirty in Jakarta. I have been working there for four or five years now and meanwhile the project has reached many more people, also in the Netherlands. Winning the Silver Camera helped with this. The exhibition is now going back to Indonesia, I think that's great. Then I focus on the people who live there again.
You have won the Silver Camera. What does this mean to you?
It makes people more aware of the problems and the people, that's good. I'm working on a sequel. Jakarta is not unique. There are many cities that have to deal with these problem.
There are more cities that suffer from subsidence. Do you plan to go there too?
Yes. The project has been expanded and I now work with scientists and designers. The approach is more about how the creative sector can contribute to science and vice versa. Not only in the field of awareness, but also when it comes to data and making things transparent.
Returning to film. Have you ever seen Indonesian films?
Yes, a blockbuster film in Jakarta. About a big Tsunami in in the city. And Jalanan, a documentary about musicians. I think I watched both films online. I am not a big fan of going to the cinema. The last movie I saw is Alien 2 or something I think, haha!
You’re not a film lover or…?
I don't watch many movies. I'm too impatient to sit for an hour and a half. Or I don't like the plot and I lose interest. I like documentaries more, they are generally shorter and more informative. So if you ask me: "What is your favourite movie?" I don't have an answer right away.
Our film festival is focusing on Indonesia this year. Do you have a specific subject that you would like to see?
I am curious about what Indonesian film has to offer in general. Does it look like Indian Bollywood for example? I sometimes zap along the local channels in my hotel room. Then a lot of silly movies come by.
Will you visit World Cinema Amsterdam?
For sure!
Final question: we have that life-size photo of you hanging in Rialto, can you tell us more about this image?
This photo was taken in one of the lowest-lying neighbourhoods of Jakarta. There are many poor people and people who are not allowed to live here. By this I mean that they live on government land that is not intended for this. So this street still exists, only the houses around it are razed to the ground. It is close to the sea, so you can imagine that a lot of water flows in that direction. Once this water is there, it is difficult to drain. There is a lot of concrete and the drain is clogged with dirt.
There is a school in that street and that boy on the picture just came by on his way to school with his lunchbox. I had been walking in that neighbourhood all morning hoping to make some beautiful images. But it rained all day so everyone stayed inside. And then suddenly there was that boy.
The photo of Cynthia Boll can be seen in Rialto until September.
