Gianyar, Bali - The sound of the word Sulawesi means melting water in Finnish. These are the words on everyone‘s lips come spring, according to a Finnish expatriate living in Bali, amateur photographer Ari Saaski
He agrees Finland is a long way from Indonesia, but the archipelagic nation has been calling to him since he first discovered it in the pages of a library book one long, dark Arctic Circle winter almost two decades ago.
The passion Saaski found for Indonesia‘s islands of sun have now been translated into an exhibition of photos of Sumba‘s Pasola festival. Ari says the images on exhibition are the result of his five-day journey to the isolated southern island with fellow photographer Ilan Weinblatt.
Saaski‘s interest in Sumba began as a 15-year-old researching Sulawesi. He came across images of Sumba and the island culture and was hooked. For fellow traveler, Weinblatt, also a Bali resident, the photographic journey to Sumba was his way of reconnecting to the cultural heart of Indonesia.
"Traveling to Sumba was a longtime dream of mine. Ever since I found the island when I was reading about Sulawesi. That island was my first goal, then I found the book on Sumba and the ikat made there. It was not until I moved to Indonesia to study wood carving and furniture production that I heard about the Pasola," said Saaski, adding that in another linguistic twist the earlier name of Pashola, Pa Hola, means Devil in Finnish
Pasola, the name of the photographic exhibition, is an annual festival of horses and warriors in West Sumba, with roots going back to the times of the earliest kings of Sumba.
According to Saaski and Weinblatt, the horsemen gather on a vast plane carrying spears, now blunted at both ends under Indonesian law, galloping toward their opponents in a reenactment of war that has taken place for hundreds of years.
"There were hundreds of horsemen in the Pasola at Lamboya. In the old days, before the spears were blunt, five to 10 people died every year during the festival. This was seen as a good omen. The blood of their wounds fed the earth and ensured a good crop for the year," Saaski said.
He pointed out there are no winners or losers in the Pasola; it is a fight based on honor and follows the cultural laws set by the priests who wait for the annual arrival of rainbow worms to be washed up on West Sumba‘s vast and empty stretches of white sand beaches. The worms are believed to be the hair of the Goddess of the South Sea, Nyai Roro Kidul and mark the beginning of the Pasola.
And it is this living culture that Saaski and Weinblatt hope viewers recognize in their exhibition. Both photographers say they hope their images remind people of how diverse and in tact much of Indonesia‘s cultural life still is.
"Ten years ago there were a lot more people going to places like Sumba. But with the bombs and other problems, very few people leave the comfort of places such as Bali," Saaski said.
Weinblatt agreed, saying Sumba had been "a big surprise" for him: "I have traveled a lot in Indonesia and I knew there were some places that still had their complete culture that had not gone through the process of change. I found Sumba still holds a strong culture with very few modern influences. People still live in the code of the past with pride. That‘s why these people and their communities are so strong -- there are zero signs of modernity".
He said he hoped people would come away from the exhibition with a reinvigorated sense of Indonesia and the richness of its many cultures.
"I hope that more of the people who live here in Bali, the expatriates, will realize there is so much more to Indonesia than what we have in the cocoon that is Bali. Bali is a different planet to so much of Indonesia and we forget that," Weinblatt said.
But while both photographers respect the beauty of culture and way of life on islands such as Sumba, they also recognize the hardship that the isolation and lack of access to the modern world places on Sumba‘s residents.
"More people need to see Sumba. Sumba is out there. Malaria, water issues, few roads, most villages without electricity and the need for better access to education.
"In a sense this (lack of access) is what keeps it beautiful -- that absence of modernity. But it would be great to see something more for the people. You can introduce modernity in good ways such as in health and education," Weinblatt said.
The Pasola photographic exhibition may be one way that positive modernity can be introduced with all proceeds from the show going to the Sumba Foundation.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com (12 September 2007)
