Landep
Yoese Mariam
Self-published
English/Javanese
Hardcover
80 pages
220 mm x 167 mm
First Edition
2024
ISBN 9786238415021
There is a forbidden room in my house. Not everyone can come in – and that includes me. The mysterious room is where my father keeps his old keris (traditional Javanese dagger).
I try to revisit the memory from an event that took place a quarter of a century ago. The dagger is small in size, its length not much longer than a stretch of a palm – about as long as my wrist to the tip of my middle finger. Recently, following a trip to Java, I just discovered that his dagger was traditionally a female’s.
The mysterious room marked a bitter chapter in the family. My father’s desire to keep the keris became a source of conflict with my mother.
The differing perspectives between my father and mother got more apparent.
Recently, the memory of my father and the keris seem to be intertwined and resurfaced in my life. Our closeness becomes a starting point in my effort to get to know and understand keris as a cultural heritage.
The journey to understand where keris stands within the Javanese tradition has brought me to respect and accept supernatural things.
I explored cities that have ties with keris – Surakarta, Salatiga, Yogyakarta, Sumenep, and villages in Bali. A place with direct connection with my father was Parangkusumo Beach in Yogyakarta – something that I only realized after visiting.
The work is called “landep.” To the Javanese, the word means “sharp.” I think the title represents my journey, be it about the physical form of keris as well as how people see myself.
A keris has determined the fate of our family. Every story has a moral. I reflect on the journey to make peace with complicated things of the past.
(source: https://www.yoese-mariam.com/)
About the Artist
Yoese Mariam, is a geoscientist from Jakarta. Indonesia, who also takes photographs and is passionate about visual storytelling.
Works :
2019 :Leica Group Exhibition in Jakarta
2023 : Honourable Mention and Official Selection in Cultural Category of the International Photography Awards
2023 : Shortlisted in the Professional Documentary Projects Category at the Sony World Photography Awards
May 2023 : ‘Jati Diri Ragam Warna Identitas’, Group Exhibition at IFI Jakarta Thamrin
June 2023 : ‘Three Photos Left’ Solo Exhibition at the Leica Gallery, Jakarta
July 2023 : Launched first photobook ‘Three Photos Left’
June 2024 : ‘Finalist of APhF Dummy Award, Athens Photo Festival 2024 for ‘Landep’
August 2024 : ‘Landep’ Solo Exhibition, Cemara 6 Gallery, Jakarta
yoese-mariam.com
(source: https://www.yoese-mariam.com/)
