Misalkan Anda di Lembâna
(2023)
Suppose You Were in Lembâna
A collaborative work by
Lembâna Artgoecosystem
_______________________
Fikril Akbar
M. Shodiq
Shohifur Ridho'i
Syamsul Arifin
Lembâna Artgoecosystem
_______________________
Fikril Akbar
M. Shodiq
Shohifur Ridho'i
Syamsul Arifin
Misalkan Anda di Lembâna dapat dibaca sebagai sebuah praktik “fotografi-tak-kasat-mata” (invisible photography) yang berupaya merekam sekaligus mengaburkan repertoar sosial sehari-hari warga di Lembâna, Sumenep, Madura. Repertoar tersebut tidak hadir dalam bentuk citra visual yang lazim, melainkan melalui pengarsipan gestur, ruang, dan aktivitas rutin warga. Dengan demikian, karya ini beroperasi pada kerangka site-specific dan temporal, mengikuti ritme linear kehidupan sehari-hari yang dijalani masyarakat Lembâna.
Misalkan Anda di Lembâna menempatkan pengunjung pameran dalam posisi imajiner sebagai pelancong atau turis, yakni sosok asing yang tengah berjalan-jalan di Lembâna. Posisi ini dimaksudkan untuk menegaskan sekaligus mengkritisi batas teritorial dan batas etis yang seringkali diabaikan dalam praktik fotografi. Dalam konteks ini, tindakan memotret oleh “orang asing” tidak hanya dipahami sebagai proses dokumentasi, tetapi juga sebagai aktivitas mengoleksi dan mengapropriasi citra subjek lain/liyan, yakni penduduk lokal. Dengan strategi tersebut, karya ini sekaligus membuka perbincangan kritis mengenai relasi kuasa yang inheren dalam praktik representasi visual: siapa yang berhak merekam, siapa yang direkam, dan bagaimana proses perekaman itu mengonstruksi jarak maupun kedekatan antara “yang melihat” dan “yang dilihat.”
Misalkan Anda di Lembâna menempatkan pengunjung pameran dalam posisi imajiner sebagai pelancong atau turis, yakni sosok asing yang tengah berjalan-jalan di Lembâna. Posisi ini dimaksudkan untuk menegaskan sekaligus mengkritisi batas teritorial dan batas etis yang seringkali diabaikan dalam praktik fotografi. Dalam konteks ini, tindakan memotret oleh “orang asing” tidak hanya dipahami sebagai proses dokumentasi, tetapi juga sebagai aktivitas mengoleksi dan mengapropriasi citra subjek lain/liyan, yakni penduduk lokal. Dengan strategi tersebut, karya ini sekaligus membuka perbincangan kritis mengenai relasi kuasa yang inheren dalam praktik representasi visual: siapa yang berhak merekam, siapa yang direkam, dan bagaimana proses perekaman itu mengonstruksi jarak maupun kedekatan antara “yang melihat” dan “yang dilihat.”
Misalkan Anda di Lembâna can be read as a practice of “invisible photography” that seeks to both record and obscure the everyday social repertoire of the inhabitants of Lembâna, Sumenep, Madura. This repertoire does not manifest in conventional visual images but rather through the archiving of gestures, spaces, and the daily routines of local residents. In this way, the work operates within a site-specific and temporal framework, following the linear rhythms of everyday life as lived by the people of Lembâna.
Misalkan Anda di Lembâna positions exhibition visitors in an imagined role as travelers or tourists—figures of estrangement who are envisioned as strolling through Lembâna. This positioning is intended to underscore and critically interrogate the territorial and ethical boundaries that are often disregarded in photographic practice. Within this context, the act of photographing by an “outsider” is not merely understood as documentation, but also as an activity of collecting and appropriating the image of the Other—the local inhabitants. Through this strategy, the work opens a critical discussion on the power relations inherent in visual representation: who holds the authority to record, who becomes the recorded, and how the act of recording itself constructs both distance and proximity between “the observer” and “the observed.”
Misalkan Anda di Lembâna positions exhibition visitors in an imagined role as travelers or tourists—figures of estrangement who are envisioned as strolling through Lembâna. This positioning is intended to underscore and critically interrogate the territorial and ethical boundaries that are often disregarded in photographic practice. Within this context, the act of photographing by an “outsider” is not merely understood as documentation, but also as an activity of collecting and appropriating the image of the Other—the local inhabitants. Through this strategy, the work opens a critical discussion on the power relations inherent in visual representation: who holds the authority to record, who becomes the recorded, and how the act of recording itself constructs both distance and proximity between “the observer” and “the observed.”
This work was exhibited at the Jogja Fotografis Festival under the theme “Bingkai”. The experimental photography festival was organized by the collective Mess56 and took place at Rj. Katamsi Gallery, Indonesian Institute of the Arts., Yogyakarta (2023)
Photos by doc. Joffis
